The View from my Window

Our gorgeous new puppy & a back to school BBQ

2012-01-22T15:12:00.001+10:00

I have sort of been looking for a new puppy for a few months now. Jack was so keen to get another dog but it took me a little while to come to terms with it after losing our beautiful Bella but over the last couple of weeks I've been checking the pet adoption sites. I contacted Capricorn Animal Rescue, who are a wonderful organization that save and re-home dogs from the pound, and Jack and I went and met a few small dogs but Coco was the one!! She was so friendly right from the start. We met her out the front of her foster home and she came and sat on my lap straight away and then went and jumped on Jack too. We went away to think about it but I knew straight away that she was going to be living with us.

Owen picked her up on Monday and as soon as she came home she has just fit right in. Our kitty cats have taken a couple of days to get used to having a dog around but it's settled down now. Isn't she beautiful?

This is her first day home up lying on the lounge with O.

If anyone in the Central Queensland area is looking for a new pet I'd definitely recommend that you have a look at the beautiful animals that are available for adoption from Capricorn Animal Aid. It's a great cause to support.

Speaking of new to our home we have also got a new lounge suite this month!! O & I had been tossing up about getting a new lounge before Christmas and had decided against it...and then changed our minds for the hundredth time. I'm really happy we did though. The new lounge is a great size for our little house and it has storage in the ottoman and the chaise and a sofa bed under the main section so it added some storage as well. It's not as snuggly comfy as our old lounge but it's still really nice to sit in and looks nice and fresh and the colour is great for our place.

Jack is heading back to school tomorrow much to his disgust!! Lol, poor kid. He says school is "boring" and he misses his Mummy. I tried to tell him that if it would make it easier for him I could make home ultra-boring so school would seem more fun but he declined. So to celebrate the last days of holidays we had a BBQ last night with some of his school friends as a last holiday hoorah!

It was a great day for a swim yesterday, nice and hot.

Jack & Mitch having a tussle on O's chill out tube.

A couple of lap races took place.

And then a nice BBQ dinner to follow.

It's so nice to catch up with friends and it's so hard to find the time with conflicting schedules and work rosters and things but I'm hoping this year to spend some more time with my friends.

Blogging in Twenty-Twelve...

2012-01-09T22:55:00.000+10:00

It's been forever since I've blogged. Halloween way back in October. How slack have I been!? Honestly with everyone being on Facebook I've just been uploading photos there but it's not the same. It's so nice to be able to scroll back through a blog and reminisce. So this year I'm going to be better and I'm going to take more photos which Jack will hate!! He is so over having his photo taken by me.

So I'll go back to the beginning of December. After school finished for the year I had the first two weeks of the holidays off with my beautiful Jack. We did a few fun things...went to the movies, went to the Rockpool Water Park (which resulted in sunburn for both of us which I felt awful about), went to the beach and went to the Botanical Gardens for Jack's cousin Alyssa's birthday party.

Jack and Ally on the playground with Patrick.

And then Christmas!! This is part of my Department 56 Christmas village. It makes me :)

The days before Christmas is a flurry of activity. My Mumma came around to give me a hand with the cooking on the Friday before Christmas and then my Aunt Diane and Uncle Paul dropped around on Saturday. They got the dirty job of rolling the truffles. LOL, looks like hard work hey. This was taken at the end of the rolling too btw not during.

I made a couple of fudges, an Eggnog Fudge and a Salted Caramel Fudge which was to die for, yummo!! I also made a Cranberry Chilli Chutney. I don't cook alot of hot foods because I don't like to eat hot foods but after cutting up all the chillies for the chutney I remember the last time I cut up chilli and told myself not to forget to wear gloves, I forgot. Stirring the fudge for 8 minutes over the heat with chillified fingers is not fun, eating the leftover caramel fudge though made it worth it.

The kids lunching in the theater room on Christmas Day while watching The Santa Clause 3.

And a dip in the pool after lunch...

This is my Mum and my brother Kevin.

My Mum with her brother and sisters and my Grandparents: Fay, Mum, Jaamy, Rob, Diane & Jenny with Grandad and Grandma.

Me and my brother with my Grandparents and my Mum.

Christmas Day was soooo nice this year. The last couple of years it's been hot and sticky and wet but this year was really pleasant with a nice breeze and nice and sunny. I normally am up very very late the few nights before Christmas running around like crazy trying to get everything done but this year I was pretty organised. I was up a bit late the night before Christmas though because I forgot that I had to make the pavlova and didn't remember until about 10.30 Christmas Eve. You know how it is when something happens like that things always seem to dcmino. So I remember that I have to make the pav, then I couldn't find any caster sugar so thank goodness for Google, I read that you could blitz normal sugar in a food processor instead. Being the middle of the night though I didn't want to wake up Jack with the noisy processor so at 11pm I'm on the floor in the bedroom huddled over my food processor blitzing up the sugar. I take my processed sugar out to the kitchen and then I can't find the cornflour!! So I'm pulling out half my pantry and what do I find...caster sugar of course but I also found the cornflour. Pav was done and baked by about 12.30 and I jumped in bed. I couldn't sleep!! When I last looked at the clock it was after 2am and then of course my beautiful son who normally sleeps until at least 7 was up at 5.30 in the morning!! I was fine though after a couple of coffees and the day was great. I think everyone had a good day.

New Years Eve!! O and I took Jack to the Carnival near the PCYC. It's the first year they've had anything like this on in Rocky and it was great to have something fun for the kids to do. The last couple of years we've just spent it quietly at home so it was nice to have something to do. They had a few rides including a rock wall and the Hurricane!! I was very surprised that Jack wanted to go on. My baby is growing up I guess (sigh). I'm pretty sure O enjoyed himself as well.

On Boxing Day our friends the William's invited us to this beautiful beach down at Byfield (I'm pretty sure it's called Sandy Point) Again it was another great day, not too hot with a nice sea breeze. There were a few bugs around but otherwise it was perfect.

The boys did a spot of fishing. I threw in a few lines too but there were no fish biting unfortunately or fortunately I guess as O and I are not the best at the whole fish from hook removal business.

Like father, like son.

Don't you love Owen's pink fishing rod (it's mine of course). Looking good honey ;) With Owen working so many weekends it's hard to get time together to do fun things like this so it was a fantastic way to start off the New Year (thank goodness for an occasional actual public holiday!!)

Jack and Ollie decided that it would be safer to dig a hole to swim in since we had spotted a couple of jellyfish. They didn't have much success though but had fun trying. I even found a couple of sand dollars. I always look for them whenever I'm at the beach but they're pretty scarce around here.

So that's about the year so far. Jack is of course on holidays so he has been spending time with a number of my very generous, lovely friends and family which has been great for him to have kids to play with.

I'm looking forward to the new year and seeing what it brings with it!!

And lastly a cool photo I took tonight of a cicada shedding it's skin. It was on the door of the guinea pig hutch when we went to put them to bed.

Ciao!

Boo...Halloween is coming

2011-10-19T22:18:00.000+10:00

So of course I've been doing a bit of Halloween decorating. At the front door we have a "Witches Parking" area with an umbrella witchy hanging from the roof.

I made a very eclectic wreath for the front door.

And an arachnophobes nightmare of a front door. I've also lost my Halloween doorbell from last year, it's disappeared into the abyss of the spare room I think.

Jack insisted on having the eyeballs back out the front in the birds nest. It's funny how kids like to have things exactly how they were previously. Jack takes a bit of convincing sometimes if I want to change something around.

How Vampire Diary is this, Candy Blood!! Gross and cool at the same time. I bet it is disgustingly sweet. I know it's a bit gross especially for kids but I couldn't resist.

Inside the front entry, the treat laden entry table with bloody hands and spidery mirror.

Jack painting the eggs for the Halloween party invites...

The finished invitation...

And swim season has started. Some days it's still a bit chilly but Jack's been in a few times and I've even been in once.

The boys have been hard at work...

2011-10-03T10:26:00.000+10:00

Our backyard has always been a bit of a dumping ground and it's also had a few make overs. We were trying to decide what to do with it after the pool was put in. We had few ideas: a mini golf course, a succulent garden, a zen retreat, a built up vege patch but in the end we decided just to pave against the house and turf it so it can be multi purpose. We might put in one golf hole for some putting and it can be our croquet and bocce green. It's nice to have a bit of green out there. We've still need to decide what to plant against the fence and Owen is going to build a screen for around the air conditioners.

The clear out...

Jack showing off his muscles after moving a few dozen pavers...

Ta-da...the paving done.

O laying the turf...

...nearly finished....

Jack having a little cuddle with Kitti on the nice cool grass...

Of course you have to water in the new lawn so Jack made the most of it and tromped down the turf at the same time...

The boys did a great job.

On the last weekend of the holidays Jack had his mate Mitchell over for a sleep over. We headed to the Crazy Joker for a few hours before heading home. Jack had seen Mr Maker make these haunted castles so we had been saving our toilet paper rolls and Jack and Mitch each made one. Great way to occupy some time.

On Sunday morning the boys played Band Hero on the Wii. They were really getting into it too.

Jack rocking out...

New additions to our home...

2011-09-18T22:02:00.000+10:00

O and I had decided to get a couple of chooks. We checked out the laws on the link at the council website, ordered a coop and some feeders and went to visit a breeder to check out her frizzle chickens which are the most adorable things. Their feather curve outward so the little chooks look like they've been caught in a windstorm, they are super cute. So anyway O was doing some research while we were waiting for the coop to be shipped and came across the 2006 council rules which state no chooks allowed for a block of our size!! So of course being the goody two shoes that I am instead of just pretending we hadn't seen it a got the chooks anyway I insisted that we ring to clarify with the council. Bad move :( Turns out that the 2006 rules still apply. The link that we had looked at was the new laws that are not in yet and are still under consideration so come the 31st of December we may or may not be able to have chooks. I'm hopeful that we will be able to since in Brisbane it's not a problem to have chooks on our block size.

So of course Jack was very disappointed. We explained it all to him as best we could and he now is not very happy with the council. So then I thought maybe we could get a pair of quails instead but they are apparently classed as poultry as well and therefore are not allowed either. So what's the next best thing to keep in a coop....

...Fluffy and Caramel!!

They are very cute. My brother and I had guinea pigs galore when we were kids. I figure even though they can't provide us with eggs at least they'll still eat our vege scraps. I had wanted to get fancy guinea pigs with the cool mullet hairstyles but Jack fell in love with Fluffy (the black and white one) and we wanted two around the same size/age and the only fancy one was a fair bit bigger. They are such adorable little things and are coping pretty well with being caught and kid handled by a 6 year old every couple of hours. I discovered this afternoon though a jellybean sized lump on the side of Caramels face so I really hope these guinea pigs arent' going to cost us a fortune in vet bills.

Notice Jack's lip in the photo? We spent a couple of hours at the ER on Friday night. Jack was practicing his gymnastics swinging in between our dresser and the bed foot and lost his grip and face planted on the carpet. The scream definitely brought O and I running. He had put three teeth through his lip and split the gum behind one tooth and in front of the other so we thought we'd better get it checked out. It's healing up well, no need for stitches or anything and his teeth are ok luckily. He's had some bruising come out today both on and under his lip and also under his chin which is slightly swollen. Poor little bugger, it looks bloody painful.

Pizza!!

2011-08-13T20:58:00.000+10:00

Jack's little mate Jared is having a sleep over tonight. I had a great afternoon, they entertained themselves with the Wii and I was free to relax!! So tonight we've made pizza for dinner.

Here are the boys making the dough. Jared was chief mixer and Jack was chief sifter.

Then they got down and dirty and kneaded the dough...

They stretched it out to their desired shapes. Jack's was in the shaped of a bone.

Applied their sauce of choice...

Added some bacon and cheese...

And viola!! Pizza!!

Then the taste test...

Jared's hot cheese face.

Birthdays and a new kitten in our household.

2011-07-24T22:21:00.000+10:00

We've had a busy weekend for birthdays this week. A joint birthday for Owen's niece and nephew on Friday, Emmy's 1st Birthday party on Saturday, Grandad Kev's birthday dinner Saturday night and then a BBQ dinner for another niece tonight.

Here's Grandad blowing out the candles on his cake for his 88th Birthday.

Jack, Patrick and Ally lining up to help Emmy blow out the candle on her 1st Birthday cake. She was adorable grabbing little handfuls of smarties off the cake.

And last but not least here is our new kitten, Cappuccino. She's such a cutie. Kitti apparently disagrees but we're very much hoping that she'll get over it. At the moment there's just been lots of hissing and mewling.

Goodbye Old Girl

2011-06-18T21:30:00.000+10:00

We made the very very sad decision to put our poor old Bella girl to sleep today. Today I was feeling relieved that she was sick no longer and would be feeling no more pain but tonight I'm just feeling heart broken. I'm very much wishing that Jacks' suggestion to "think of happy kittens" was actually effective because all I can think of is the loss of her.

I have a thousand thoughts but no words...

A break away...

2011-04-26T20:16:00.000+10:00

...what a great way to spend a weekend!!

We went to the beach for a couple of days over the Easter weekend and stayed at the beach house with some family and friends. I'm sure I've mentioned many times about the great childhood memories I have from holidays with my family at the beach house. When I say my family I don't just mean my Mum and my brother I mean FAMILY!! My Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins...lots of us all in one house, beds head to head around the sleep out. The best of times!! Ah, sweet memories.

So this weekend the three of us went down with our friends the Williams's and the Bruckner's and my Grandparents and Aunt Jenny and Uncle Michael. It makes me feel so happy to have Jack spend time with other kids like that. I'm sure it was a different experience for him as well being around other kids for that amount of time.

So we did some swimming...

We hung out at the beach...

We played in the sand...

We hunted for yabbies (thanks Jason)...

We saw the sunrise (thanks kids :P)

We swam some more...

We baked some brownies...

We at some fantastic waffles (thanks David)

The kids rode scooters and bikes...

The big kids rode bikes...

We goofed around...

We ate fresh coconut...

And we wore out sunscreen...

Jack got so sick of me telling him to put on more sunscreen. He told me he couldn't wear five layers of sunscreen. He didn't get burned though, lucky he listened to his Mum.

It is sooooo relaxing down there. The fresh sea breeze, the sound of the ocean, the wind rustling the coconut leaves, the sand between your toes, the cool water splashing over your feet, the laughter of the kids, ahh bliss.

Life is good!

Second toothy peg gone...

2011-04-13T20:08:00.000+10:00

Jack has had a wiggly tooth for weeks now and it fell out yesterday at school when he was having lunch and he swallowed it!! He was a bit puzzled when I asked how the tooth fairy was going to get the tooth. We left her/he a note.

I am now the mother of a 6 year old!!

2011-04-05T20:21:00.001+10:00

So my beautiful little guy turned 6 on Sunday. Sometimes it feels like time just flies by. A big 6 year old already!! and some days with a big attitude to match but he is just awesome, a truly gorgeous little hunk of human. He was pretty excited about this birthday now that he knows all that a birthday brings and can understand the countdown to a birthday.

He had a little bit of a sleep in on Sunday but as soon as he woke up he remembered that it was his birthday and wanted to open his gifts. It was a whole family affair, Jack, Owen & I and Kitti and Bella all sitting around on the floor of his room to see what he got. O & I got two kisses for the 2 things that he liked the most which were some Lego and a Wii game.

He and Owen then headed off to one of his school friends parties for the morning while I finished up the prep for his Spongebob Pool Party.

I love this smile, so adorable and so joyful.

Speaking of adorable, how cute is little Sofie's swimming costume. I want one!!

We had all sorts of yummy food but I really loved the way these turned out, Krabby Patty Cupcakes. I had seen them on Flickr while I was researching cake ideas. They are vanilla cupcakes with a brownie disc for the patty and some icing to represent the lettuce, mustard and tomato sauce. The others are just chocolate cupcakes with bright blue buttercream.

To go with the Spongebob theme I had yellow cups with cute little cocktail straws and seahorse swizzle sticks which I got from a local wholesale place that were pretty economical and added a little extra to the decor. I bought a couple of inflatable palm trees and had Jack's Spongebob toys leaned against them and a few posters printed off the net and yellow & blue balloons for decorations and with the help of JG made some "jellyfish" from pink balloons and streamers. It looked nice and festive. I wish I had a little more time to add some streamers and things but as normal I bit off a little more than I could chew.

For games we had Pass the Parcel, a treasure hunt, a shark pinata, Pin the Square Pants on Spongebob and a Krabby Patty Relay Race which was great. For the relay the kids had to race up and back the patio carrying a split bun on a spatula held in one hand that had an oven mit on. They did really well. There are so many great free printable things around on the internet and some great bargains on eBay as well. I bought some little Spongebob badges on eBay for little prizes and to go in the loot bags.

Here's Jack posing happily in front of his gift stash...

I was so glad that so many of our family and friends could come along to celebrate and grateful to have so many generations together too. I was also thankful for the help both getting ready and packing up as well, great family and friends are such a blessing.

Everyone gathered around the cake...

All the kids wanted to eat the pineapple part but I had actually iced some shaped Styrofoam on top of a slab cake so they had to settle for a pineapple leaf and a slice of cake.

Jack had a great day, I was very pleased that he enjoyed himself so much. I was left a little frazzled by the end of the afternoon but that's nothing new, time management is not one of my strong points, lol.

In other news...

The school Disco was on Friday night. It was Bob the Builder/Construction themed so I whipped Jack up some paint splattered painters overalls from and old sheet. Note to self: ensure fabric is strong enough to withstand crazy dancing. LOL!! Luckily I had told Jack to wear shorts under the overalls because although I had triple stitched the crotch he managed to split his pants by the end of the night. He is a wild crazy dancer, it actually looks just like this photo...

And then today was the school sports carnival. Owen and I are both sunburnt, Jack is fine however. He must have listened when told to re-apply sunscreen.

He did really well this year. He came third in his sprint race.

Here is Jack and his friend Mitchell showing off their winners ribbons.

The kids get to do everything which is great so they did a few ball games and then the long jump...

and the high jump...

It's a long day but great to see the kids getting out there and giving everything a go. The younger grades are so cute to watch.
Well I'd better go and put some more cream on my sunburn. Ciao :)

This sweet adorable face...

2011-03-15T23:03:00.001+10:00

Being a Mum can be a tough job. Jack has had a little difficulty adjusting to school this year and we have had lots of tears. Having to peel his little arms from around my waist in the morning at school is hard. We've also had some instances where he has been pushing his boundaries which I know is a normal way for a child of his age to act but he has always been such a well behaved little guy that I have found dealing with these circumstances quite difficult. As much as I know he doesn't mean it, it breaks my heart when he tells me that I'm the worst Mum ever and that I'm mean. Oh my does it hurt but this face, this cheeky little guy with those adorable freckles makes my heart feel so joyous.

I just love this photo even though he's munging out on a dixie drumstick at the time I just think it's adorable.

It was my Grandma's birthday last week and we had a lovely family dinner at Rob & Marie's to celebrate. I love to see Jack have so much fun playing with his second cousins. It brings back great memories of all the family time I spent with my cousins.

It's so funny how kids know that there's no way you can blow out a sparkler but they always have to have a go at it.

Blow kids, blow...

It's hard to get time for family get together s with the time pressures of life in modern times and so it's hard to get photos of family together too. I was so happy with these next to photos of my Mum with my brother and then with my niece Rasharna. I think they are both such lovely shots. I just love phots, lol.

This is Jack's cousin Ally. They go to school together and were in the same class last year. He thinks she's pretty cool. He was so cute when I took the photo, he put his little arm around her. Adorable.

This cute little fella just hung out all night at the party. There was also a little possum visitor to the party too but I only managed to get a photo of it's butt.

We've had a jet-ski for years now and Owen used to go out pretty regularly before Jack was born but it hasn't been used in ages so Owen and one of his mates rosters coincided and the opportunity arose so they went down to the river on Sunday. Jack has been pretty eager to get out there too. I thought (sort of hoped) he'd be turned off by the murky water in the river but alas no, he jumped on.

I thought they'd just putter around near the jetty but they headed out right down the river and around the corner. I should have taken binoculars so I could tell who was on which ski.

When he came back to shore he was so excited to tell me that they'd gone a 5 and a 7! 57 MILES PER HOUR!! What a little speed demon! It is fun out on the ski. I much prefer it at the beach though where the water isn't so murky and there's not a sign telling you not to swim because of the crocodiles in the area. I think I'll be pretty hard pressed getting a turn now though, now that Jack's had his first taste.

Ticked off a few of the 7 sins this weekend...

2011-02-20T22:06:00.000+10:00

...starting with my favorite, sloth! I did actually move, even had a swim this morning but the majority of my Sunday was spent lying in the air con surfing the net. In my defense it was too bloody hot here today and I was researching for Jack's upcoming birthday so it wasn't as if I did nothing and I did bake...

...which brings me to the next sin, gluttony! Oh my lordy I have eaten some food this weekend!! This afternoon we went over to our friends, Kim & David's, for a sausage sizzle and desert feast!! Yum, yum, yum!! Freshly cooked waffles with ice cream, a delicious chocolate caramel macadamia pie, triple chocolate pie, cointreau chocolate mousse & macaroons!! I'm pretty sure any moment now I may in fact lull into a sugar induced coma but it was worth it, delicious! Yesterday we ended up at Sizzler for lunch as well so two days in a row I've way overdone it.

Anyhoo, the kids had a great play this afternoon. Jack has been super hyper all weekend actually so it was great that he got to have a good run around this afternoon.

Here's Hunter 'playing' Twister. How stunning are those blue eyes!?

Charlotte having a swing...

and Hayley mid swing too...

Jack on the monkey bars, the tongue must help I think, he made it all the way across.

Lauren in the cubby...

And Jared & Jack running for the frisbee

You may as well add envy to that list of sins too. We went to the home & leisure show this weekend. There wasn't all that much there but there were a few things to be envious of like a beautifully organised wardrobe from Howard's Storage World amongst other things.

The Tooth Fairy!!

2011-02-02T17:18:00.000+10:00

Looks like we'll be having our first visit from the tooth fairy tonight. Jack's tooth has been wobbly for months now and today when he came down the school stairs he was very excitedly holding an envelope labelled "Jack's Tooth". Our little man is growing so fast!!

Jack's first day in Grade 1!!

2011-01-24T21:08:00.001+10:00

Today was Jack's first day in Grade 1!! I thought we may have had to drag him kicking and screaming to school but he went ok. I've been talking about it all week and he was adamant that he didn't want to go but the flow of the morning went ok and I didn't end up having much of a fight on my hands at all which I'm very grateful for.

I missed him today though. I'm sure he probably didn't miss me with the excitement of a new class, his own desk, own pencils and pencil case, new kids to meet, new teacher etc.

That smile, oh my, I don't know where he gets that from, well actually he gets it from his Dad, see below, lol.

The family photo...

And homework on the first day!!

I had a nice day today though. My friend Charlene came over this morning for morning tea which was nice to have a catch up. Life gets so busy some times that it's hard to make the time to catch up with friends as much as I'd like to. This afternoon we had a swim and afternoon tea play-date with some of Jack's friends. It is absolutely lovely in pool in the afternoon at the moment, the temperature is just perfect. Ahhh, life in beautiful Queensland.

A lovely weekend...

2011-01-16T20:49:00.000+10:00

Well I have had just a lovely weekend. It actually started on Friday really with the day at the pool from my last post and then Friday was finished off with coffee and a chat at my good friend Kim's house in the afternoon.

Saturday Jack and I headed up to the Botanic Gardens for a birthday party for Jack's second cousin, Patrick. The party started off with a hidden treasure hunt where the kids had to sift through the sand looking for pirate coins.

The next game was the piñata. Kids just love piñata's don't they. Jasmine had made some great props for the party, I think her Mum helped as well. The treasure chest piñata, a big ship replica and another chest that contained the pass the parcel prizes and the sword cake were all fantastic. I love themed parties.

This is Patrick, the Birthday Boy, showing off his loot from the piñata.

There are a couple of new playground pieces at the gardens. Jack loved this flying fox thing.

I couldn't find his old pirate costume (I don't think it'd fit anyway) so I just painted Jack's face for the party. Arr, me hearties!!

After the party Jack and I went and checked out the zoo before heading off to do a spot of shopping.
Today we headed to Upper Stony Creek with the William's family for a swim and lunch and a bit of relaxing. Here's Jack just kicking back on his camping chair.

It's a very pretty place there. It's in the Byfield National Park. Apparently this is the best time to go because there's been rain and it's running and nice and clear. Oliver told me that he and his Dad saw a turtle when they were there the other day. It only took about 50 minutes to get there from Rocky so it's not very far away.

Jason had bought his inflatable boat so the kids all piled in and Tricia & Jason took them for a paddle up the creek.

After they came back we all went for a little swim (well at least a stand in the water). It was a wee bit fresh in the water but when you got used to it it wasn't so bad. Jason tells us that it is like the fountain of youth with all the minerals etc. in the water. I havn't noticed any changes yet however.

After the swim we had some sandwiches for lunch and then just chilled for awhile while the kids had a bit of a run around and play and then Jack and I headed back home. It's always so nice to do something different. This week coming is the last before Jack heads back to school so I'll have to think of some fun things to do. O is off Wednesday and Thursday which will be nice to have some family time too.

Ahhhh, life is good!!

Our day...

2011-01-14T23:22:00.001+10:00

So today we met up with some friends at the Rock Pool Water Park. Jack had a blast and it was a great day for swimming with the weather.

Jack even braved the big water slide. He's not much of a thrill seeker my boy but after he got warmed up there was no stopping him. He wanted to keep going back on over and over.

There are a few different slides there. The one we went on is a standard twisty sort of open topped slide which does get up a bit of speed in the swirly part. They also have two straight slides and this massive inflatable dragon slide which looked a wee bit too steep of a drop for me.

This is Jack's grumpy face because he didn't want his photo taken.

We stayed and had pizza for lunch.

And Jack had a slushie. Can you tell which colour?

And then we headed off to play mini-golf. Their set up is really good. I really like themed places, it makes it all the more fun.

Their's is obviously a pirate theme and some of the areas although they could use a little bit of a touch up are so well done like the giant octopus.

And this huge skull and crossbones feature is pretty cool.

There are murals painted everywhere and a ship in a lagoon that is one of the actual course holes. It's really fun. It doesn't seem to be very popular which I was very surprised by. It's definitely the best one in town although I think there might only be one other. The whole day was really good. It's nice to be able to spend time doing something as a family as we don't often get to with work rosters. We actually have an area in our backyard that isn't often used which we were thinking of building our own little mini-golf couse. We can only fit 2 or 3 holes but it would be something fun that would put that area to good use.

I'm sure everyone has seen and heard of the massive flooding going on in Queensland, I know it's even been getting international coverage. If anyone is interested in donating to the relief fund the link is HERE. Although there is flooding in our town, which is devastating for those effected, the magnitude of what has occurred down south is just heart breaking. My thoughts are with all those that have lost loved ones and their homes and possessions.

Ice Skating Fun!!

2011-01-09T22:56:00.000+10:00

Well what a great way to start a Sunday!! This morning we went ice skating (yes, you read correctly ice skating in Rockhampton) and it was so much fun. My feet felt like they were going to drop off (ouchie!!) but it was a blast all the same. I probably made it around the rink perhaps two or three times total. Ice skating is not an easy thing. I didn't fall over however unlike Owen and poor Jack. It's run by a company called Winter Magic and is just fantastic for something different to do with the kids. We went to the first session of the day and there weren't really that many people there, perhaps 40 or 50.

They have a little rink set up for the kiddies under 6 to use which was really good. To me it felt a bit slipperier than the large rink. One of the staff was also out in the rink for awhile and stopped and gave Jack a few pointers which was really great.

He did a few laps holding onto the sides before venturing off the edge and waddling around for a few more laps. He was concentrating pretty hard. He had one all where he hurt his hand a little and a few little half falls. Owen did one pretty impressive, arms flailing fall and landed pretty hard on his butt but apart from that he was pretty good at it. Me...no so much. I did about three laps total, pretty close to the side (not far enough away to grab when I needed it). My form, let me tell you was not very impressive. I don't think I'll ever be an elegant ice skater although I can do a little circle:)

They also had a tobogganing hill set up which was really good fun. We had gone with a few other families and I'm sure that was probably the favorite thing of all the kids. The smiles on their faces were just beautiful. Poor little Charlotte didn't like it at all, but all the other kids loved it, including little Hunter who's just 1. He was all smiles.

As were the adults...Kim & Owen having a race.

And yes, I did have a turn too. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

What a great day!!

Christmas done and dusted for another year...

2010-12-27T21:53:00.001+10:00

I just love the family and friends aspect of the Christmas season and this year has been full for me. Being off for the few weeks before Christmas has let me catch up for coffee with a few people which has been lovely.

Jack has had fun being around his cousins and second cousins. They had a ball playing at my uncles birthday dinner the other night. Carrying each other around and things. Kids make up some funny little games.

My Grandma and Grandad

When we pulled into the driveway I said to Owen "What is that on the wall?", it was a huge slug. It had even shrunk itself in a little before I took the photo. I've never seen a slug that big before at least I think it was a slug.

Jack was very excited all week about Santa's impending arrival. We have been counting down not only days but hours. We put some milk and cookies out for Santa and I read him a couple of stories then he went off to bed. I was surprised that it didn't take him that long to get to sleep.

And his wait was worthwhile. The look on his face on Christmas morning was adorable. He got royally spoilt. There were so many toys you could hardly see his bedroom floor.

The hustle and bustle of Christmas, whilst a wee bit stressful, is such a major part of it, well at least in our
family. The noise, the chatter, the excited squeals of the kids. Ahh, Christmas.

Here's our buffet lunch spread. My Mum and Aunt came and helped get everything ready. I had a wee disaster with the first pork roast which caught on fire on the BBQ and was so bad I had to send Owen out to get a replacement. Owen and I will be eating left overs for days.

And the deserts. Ahhh desert, how I love thee. LOL. Well truffles in particular. I love truffles and I only make them at Christmas. I tried out a few new recipes this year, eggnog truffles, a Martha Stewart Mississippi Mud Pie, a coconut raspberry slice but I still like my regulars, pavlova and rice bubble truffles (the yummiest).

Truffles!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday was the sort and play day. Jack made up his new Spongebob Lego while I cleaned and then we tried out the new Mario classic games on the Wii. I really liked that. I love the way the graphics are still the same. I thought they would have modernized it a bit but it's exactly as it was.
Jack also had a great time playing his Paper Jamz guitar. He was a bit iffy at first because it wasn't a "real" guitar. I sold it though. I gave an impressive demo of Born to be Wild complete with rock star facials. I then got to hear Born to be Wild about another fifty times that afternoon.

At one point he was following me around the house playing whilst carrying his little amp around. He followed me into the bathroom while i was putting on my make up and I caught a glimpse of him spiking his hair up in the mirror. "Born to be wiiiiiiiiiiiild!!" Lol.

I got him a coin collecting book which I thought was pretty cool. I used to love collecting coins and stamps when I was a kid. He seems to like it. I'll wait and see though when he needs ten cents for something whether he just raids to book.

Then last night we had a family fun night. Trivial Pursuit!! Another of his Christmas presents. We did have a version that I'd bought from the swap meet but I think it was an early eighties version. This one is a bit more modern and is the family version so it has both kids and adults questions although I'm flat out answering the adult ones but it's nice all the same spending time together.

Holy gingerbread!!!!...& some itty bitty macaroons

2010-12-17T17:50:00.000+10:00

How huge is this freakin' gingerbread house!! It's crazy. It was a display in the lobby of a Walt Disney resort. Trust Disney to turn out something like this. Incredible. I wonder if they eat it when it's finished with?

I came across this gorgeous little house when I was Google'ing houses. How adorable are the little bear topiary bushes in the yard. Some people are soooooo talented.

I also saw these little guys the other day when I was blogging about. They are from the Not Martha site. I thought they were such a neat idea. They'd be gorgeous on the rim of a sugar rimmed cocktail glass with some eggnog too. Hmmm, I might have to do that actually.

I was contemplating making a gingerbread house today but decided to see if Jack wanted to make some macaroons instead...which we did, some Rosewater Macaroons with white chocolate filling. They are yummy!!

I love cooking with Jack. He insists on wearing his chef hat and apron whenever we cook which is adorable. I can't believe for a kid who likes to cook that he is so picky with what he will actually eat. I drives me crackers.

Viola, our itty bitty macaroons. It's my first time making macaroons and I think I'll have to try again, my mix seemed too thick but they still taste pretty good.

And lastly this years Santa photo. Jack was so funny. He just walked up and plonks himself down on Santa's lap without so much as a hello and starts smiling for the camera. Funny little guy.

Jack's Fun Filled Day

2010-12-13T21:57:00.001+10:00

Jack has a great day today thanks to my friend Tricia. She messaged this morning to ask if Jack would like to go to the bike park with them and some friends so that is how we spent our morning. Jack scooting around the pathways and the kids having an absolute ball.

To make the morning even better after they had had their play we headed to the new McDonald's so the kids could have an ice cream and the Mum's could have a coffee. McDonald's is getting pretty snazzy looking nowadays.

After McDonald's Tricia asked if Jack would like to stay for a play at their house and dropped me home where I continued on my cleaning jaunt and cleaned out my bedroom including all the stuff I had stashed under my bed!!
This afternoon Tricia swung by and picked me up and we headed to her folks place so the kids could have a swim. I am stilled floored by Jack's duck diving efforts. Prue (their dog) was having a good game dropping various toys in the pool for Jack to retrieve.

Jack was even very generously offered a sleep over at their place but came home a wee bit early. Thanks Tricia for including us in your plans for the day and for ferrying us around and for bringing my little man home tonight.

Jack's First School Year Done & Dusted!!

2010-12-11T22:40:00.001+10:00

Today is the first day of Jack's school holidays. We started the day very slowly, just hanging out watching some TV then Jack helped me clean out the pantry and I re-arranged the kitchen drawers as well as cleaned out the fridge.

This afternoon he had a blast in the pool. He is so water confident now. He can duck dive to the bottom of the deep end and swim the length of the pool. His style still needs a bit of work but he had come along great guns. He had a great time practicing his 'cannonballs' this afternoon, I ended up quite wet myself and I was only sitting on the edge. The water temperature was divine.

Yesterday for his last day of school there was an afternoon tea up at his classroom and the kids sang their alphabet song. It was staggeringly adorable and I did well up a just a little. I can't believe Jack will be in Grade 1 next year and I can't believe the amount of glue they need for Grade 1!! There must be a lot of cut and paste next year.
I've still got a bit of shopping to do for Christmas which I'm hoping to get done next week. A few of the things I had lay-by'd mid-year for kids gifts I've changed my mind about so I have to re-think them and of course I have all the tricky people still left to buy for but I do have a couple of things in mind. Owen is off on Tuesday and I should be ok to drive by then so I'm hoping to get it all done that day. Fingers crossed anyway.
I'm on leave for a couple of weeks now, then back to work for a couple of weeks and then off again in January for a few more weeks, using up some of my long service leave. I'm planning on really sorting through the house and getting rid of all the junk we don't need so today was a pretty good start to it. Both Owen and I tend to hoard a bit so sometimes I look around the house and just shake my head and think where to start but I'm just going to do whichever area calls to me that day and run with it. Sometimes it tends to make me feel a bit bogged down so I'm hoping it will be a freeing experience for me. :)
Jack has decided that he wants a rats tail!! Now neither Owen or I think that they are particularly attractive but we figure it's pretty harmless to let him have one although he wants me to tie it in a band all the time which looks painful. He also has two loose teeth at the moment, one at the top and one at the bottom. He's very excited about the Tooth Fairy coming and also about Santa. He's written a few notes for Santa lately which is a great way to get him to practice his spelling and writing.

So my surgery went well and I've not had much pain at all which is great. I had to wait quite a few hours before I went in which was pretty nerve racking but I made it and it's over and done with now and I havn't had any nasty side effects so I'm glad it's done.
The Bruckner's sent me this beautiful bright gerbera arrangement which was so lovely of them and my Mummy brought me some yummy chocolates. Thanks Kim for popping in to visit me, seeing your smiling face was very calming.

I don't remember anything after the surgery until Owen, Jack & Mum came up to visit me that night. Owen said I was lucid and talking when I came out of recovery and went to the ward but I don't remember any of that. I do remember seeing my gorgeous boy when he came up to see me. He's been so sweet and has been very careful not to bump my tummy and he hugs my leg or arm instead. He's such a sweetie.

And lastly a huge thank-you to Sally who has been so helpful and lovely this last week. She and Jason had Jack over for a sleep-over the night I stayed in hospital and she took him to school and collected him and dropped me to the doctors and chauffeured Jack and I around on Friday afternoon. Sally you are a gem!! Thank you thank you thank you!!

Getting ready for Christmas

2010-12-05T21:05:00.000+10:00

It really is beginning to look alot like Christmas now around our place. Our Christmas decorations have started to go up. Apparently Jack needs lots more in his room but the rest of the house is done.

Our front entry table is all glitzed and glittered up...

I made a new wreath for the front door this year. Target had beautiful full bushy green plain wreaths for $10 and then had 30% off the other day so I stole a couple of decorations off the tree, a flower from the above arrangement and dismembered some $2 shop holly for the berries and viola...our new wreath, I'm really pleased with the finished product.

And of course I have my Department 56 North Pole village all set up and aglow. There are a couple of pieces of Lemax thrown in there too but I just love the quaint and little bit quirky style of the Department 56 pieces. There are a couple of new pieces out this year that I just love love love but I will have to scour eBay in a couple of years to get them cheaper methinks as they are not cheap little babies.

My newest addition to my collection actually came last year but it was after I had my village all set up so this is it's first year on display and it's the Rock Candy Co. It's a gorgeous piece with so much detail.

And this bench welcome sign is new this year too.

This bank was my first ever piece and I bought it from Target when Jack was a baby. They only carried them for the one year as far as I know. That's what started my addiction.

I made the backdrop from a panoramic mountain shot that I'd mirrored to stretch the full length.

There was a set of five that all went together that were released one year. I have four as in the photo above that spell out Claus on the letters above the weather vanes. I'm missing the Santa's Beacon which is the 'L'.

There are a few pieces that I would really really love to collect. I really want the Hot Chocolate Tower and the Cocoa Chocolate Works and I really love all the new pieces from this years range and I'd love to get the Sleigh Maker but it's one of the most expensive pieces. I have quite seriously considered opening my own gift shop just so I can import and sell their stuff and of course increase my own personal collection.

The other Christmas y things that I would love to own are the Krinkles reindeer by Patience Brewster..well actually all of her stuff, they are seriously adorable.

Anyhoo, onto less pleasant stuff, on Tuesday I'm booked in to have my gall bladder removed. My first ever surgery...I'm sh*tting myself but trying to stay calm and think past it to recovery instead of thinking too much about the surgery. It's Jack's last week of Prep and I've been disappointed that I havn't been able to spend any time visiting their classroom so I'm really really hoping I bounce back super fast and can go on Friday to the break up celebration at school which is only for an hour so I'm sure I'll be fine as the surgery should be done laproscopically. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Cheers and Merry nearly Christmas...I might add in and JibJab dance or two.

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The Karate Kid and other adventures...

2010-11-21T20:24:00.000+10:00

So Jack has recently started karate which he just loves. He just goes to one lesson a week and one of his friends from school goes as well. They just got their uniform this week which he was ultra-eager to try on.

This weekend was our work Christmas party at the Capricorn Resort down at Yeppoon. We don't stay away from home much so Jack was very excited about the little milks that they supply especially when he found out that they were free and that you could actually drink them.

He even has a little milk mustache.

Jack had a ball at the party. There were Christmas bon-bons and streamer poppers!! What more can you ask for when you're five!! He then danced the night away, showing off his groovy moves on the dance floor.

The weather this weekend has been dismal but the boys went for a swim in the freezing pools anyway. Jack's first ever water slide adventure. He took a bit of convincing to get him to go down the slide but of course after the first time he wanted to keep going back.

Some friends of ours came down with their kids and we had brunch at the resort which was delicious. Afterwards we went for a walk down by the pool and the kids had a little paddle...in the freezing pool in the rain.

It was a nice weekend. It's nice to get away from home every once in a while but it's also nice to get back home.

Our Halloween Party!!

2010-11-05T22:05:00.000+10:00

Well of course we had one! How could we not after all the decorating.

We started off with a swim, followed by some nibbles by the pool including Devillish Eyeballs, Fermented Cheese Log and Bat Wings.

I made some Spiced Pumpkin Cookies to give to the neighbors as a gift for letting the kids Trick or Treat.

Here are the kids all dressed up ready to head out Trick or Treating. I'm not sure where Lauren was for the photo. I can see a little toe in the bottom left though.

And off they headed...

...well off we all headed including my Mum and my Grandma who had her first Trick or Treat experience.

Jack was a Scorporilla this year which is a creature out of the Crash Bandicoot games. Scary hey.

After Trick or Treating we headed home to get even more candy from the pinata. No matter how quickly I think those pinatas are going to bust they always take forever!!

We then wrangled the kids to have a BBQ dinner followed by some yummy deserts including these Caramel Apples.

It was a great night and the kids had an absolute blast.

Halloween is coming...

2010-10-22T21:32:00.002+10:00

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So...

2010-10-17T21:06:00.000+10:00

I've had a few things going on lately. Last Saturday was the centenary celebrations for the primary school that both Owen and I went to, the Hall State School. Four generations of our family have attended the Hall School starting with my Grandad who was actually expelled for tickling girls on the bum with straw through the back of the outhouse. Larakin Lad!! It was really great to catch up with a few girls that I hadn't seen in many many years. The opening of the time capsule was definitely the highlight of the day. The capsule was buried 25 years ago when I was in year 7 so I even had some things in there such as photos and writings. They had some rides and things for the kids. Jack had a ride on this pony who was a bit rambunctious. He looked so cute sitting up there, holding on while the lady tried to wrangle the horse to a stop.

Last night Owen had some workmates over for a BBQ and Poker. Jack and I made brownies!! Jack loves licking the bowl as long as it's something chocolate y. I don't play poker so I watched a movie instead, The Karate Kid. Jack actually went to his first karate lesson on Wednesday night. After seeing the Karate Kid though I'm slightly regretting letting him start karate. He was keen to do karate and I thought it would be good for him to do a different activity, and I thought karate would teach him to be strong and controlled and confident and aware of the way his body works...I just don't want my baby to get hit. I'm sure that competition karate isn't like in the movies, I guess we'll take it as it comes.

So the other thing I've been up to is decorating for Halloween!! Yaay for Halloween!!

I bought a great Jack O'Lantern doorbell from The Reject Shop which is so cool. A spider shoots out when you press it and it has a variety of spookily voiced welcome messages.

In the front entry is an array of treats, the cauldron holds an array of gummi body parts and other sweets and the jars are full of chocolate goodies.

A spooky cobwebbed pirate skull hanging above a variety of pharmaceuticals.

The dining room.

And lastly my beautiful orchid. This poor orchid has been sat at the edge of the driveway, completely ignored and untended and look at the reward . Just beautiful.

Mum's Birthday!!

2010-10-03T20:17:00.000+10:00

My Mum is turning 60 tomorrow so we had a party at our place on Saturday night to celebrate. It's the biggest party I've hosted and I wasn't sure we'd fit everyone in but we ended up fitting about 46 adults and nine kids in quite comfortably. If it had rained we would have been in trouble but the weather stayed really nice which was great. The mosquitos were a bit of a pest early in the night but they seemed to clear away later in the night.

I decided on a Mexican Fiesta sort of theme which was nice and bright. As you can see we made crepe paper flowers in old coffee tins for the table decorations, I used some bright striped gift wrap for the table runners and I ordered through work the gorgeous fabric 'papel picado', mexican cutout banner, which is new this season from Hiccups.

On the menu was Gazpacho, Chilli & Cornbread, Aztec Pie and Pork Carnitas with a variety of salads and desert of Choc-mint Cheesecake and Banoffee Pie. As per normal, my fear of under-catering backfired and I've very much over-catered so we have a tone of left overs.

Here's Mum cutting her cake...

Mum with Grandad & Grandma...

Mum with her brother & sisters, Rob, Fay, Jenny, Jaamy, Diane & Marie, and Grandad & Grandma.

Diane & Jenny...

And us, Me, Owen, Mum, Joe, my brother Kevin at the back, Rashana, Karen & Jack down the front with Grandad and Grandma.

It was a great night and I'm sure Mum had a blast. I had some great help too from Mum, Marie, Diane & Grandma and of course Owen and Rob which was much appreciated.

Today Mum, Marie, Grandma and I went for High Tea at Delizie which was really nice. The decor is gorgeous, dark charcoal and silver. It has a great atmosphere and is a very pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

I'm very excited that it's October!! Not only is it my birthday month but it's also Halloween!! Yaay, Halloween decorating time!! That will be starting this week, photos to come...
Ciao

Bloody beer thieves!!

2010-09-26T21:48:00.000+10:00

So I got up nice and early Saturday morning as we were heading out to Biloela to pick up our new (2nd hand) car (see below for details). I had invited a couple of friends over for a BBQ Saturday night and went outside to see how wet our outdoor area was since it had been raining. As soon as I walked out I saw that the drinks fridge door was wide open and grumbled to myself that Owen mustn't have closed it properly the night before when he'd put the lemonade away however as I rounded the corner I saw that someone had actually ransacked out outdoor buffet thing and then notice over half a carton of beer missing from the fridge. I called out to Owen that we'd been robbed and he called back asking if they stole his car, lol, which is broken and doesn't even start!! I told him they had stolen our beer and he went to check the cars. Guess who forgot to lock their car on Friday night? Ooops & Bugger!! So all the doors of my car were ajar, GPS is gone, all my CD's gone (mainly copies but some originals), contents of the glove box all over the seat, ashtray out, center console open, center of the back seat open and the contents of the boot pulled through to the back seat!! Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t!! So as I said above we were meant to be headed to pick up our new car and trade in the crime scene so the timing was just perfect...not!!
I rang the police and a lovely officer who was having a busy morning eventually came around to check it all out and take all the details. Owen said had woken up at about 4.30am and had thought he heard voices so had gone and checked on Jack and then gotten himself a couple of panadol so had turned on a few lights in the house. We think he probably scared them away because when I was hosing off the patio later that afternoon I found a half drunk bottle of beer behind the outdoor lounge. The forensics guy came and got some really good clear prints off the car. He said the prints were probably from a teenager by the size of them. Owen, Jack & I all had out prints examined for illumination which was interesting. Apparently we all have quite unusual formations on our middle fingers. Jack was really interested in how they do the fingerprinting. We had just been looking the night before at a fingerprint kit in the toys section at Woolies. There is a vacant house behind us which has been a haven for quite a few undesirables in the last few months. The house has been trashed, all the windows smashed, the back door is practically missing and they just come and go as they please. We told the police that we regularly have people wandering around our street that end up in that house.
So after the officer had finished, Owen cleaned off all the fingerprints and we headed out to pick up this...

Yes, it is very very red!! I'm very excited. We had had our old car for about 10 years and it was starting to need alot more work done on it than it was worth so we thought we may as well get a new car. Choosing a car is such a hard decision. I'm pretty sure there are a few car salesman in our town that are sick of seeing us and then we ended up buying from a town 2 hours away anyway. It is very very comfy to drive and it the Classic version of the Falcon so Jack is very excited that it has a built in DVD!!
So that was our Saturday! We now have a new car, a new sensor light at the front of the carport, a very very noisy alarm on the beer fridge and a bit of a yuck feeling about an invasion of our home space. We found 2 of the CD's on our way home, surprise surprise they were on the footpath in front of the house I was talking about earlier. Bella, our very old doggy, was in her kennel whilst all this happened too, approximately 2.5 meters from said beer fridge so we're grateful that she's old an deaf an probably didn't realize they were there because it would have been devastating if she'd been hurt.

Just a few photos to share.

2010-09-15T20:13:00.000+10:00

There hasn't been much going on around out place lately, lots of work, not enough fun :P Since it's been so long since I've posted I thought I might just post some photos.

The first one is of Grandma Jean & Grandad Kev with baby Emmy on Father's Day. She is soooo beautiful...cluck...cluck...cluck...

Here's cheeky Jack just being cheeky.

Jack and Grandma playing with the palace they just built.

Kitti looking serene and pretty in her beautifully blingy Meow collar.

Ahhh Sunday, I love you...

2010-08-22T20:19:00.000+10:00

Lazy Sunday's are just the best and that's what I had today. I worked every day this week and had plans to do all my housework today but I just couldn't be bothered. I did some washing and packed the dishwasher and then ignored the rest. Even Jack's lunch was casual today, he had a Munchables pack which he made into these cute little 'cupcakes'.

My Mum's 60th birthday is coming up and today I worked on the invitations for her party while Jack had a play outside. He decided he wanted to blow some bubbles so I took the opportunity to get the camera out. Jack had been going through an anti-photo phase but hasn't been too bad lately. We found a cutie little ladybeetle while we were out there.

On to the bubble blowing...

Ouch my eyes...

and bubbles galore...

So in our house this week we've had a couple of additions. Jack had asked if he could have a hermit crab and I thought why not, easy care, cheap pet so we headed off the pet shop to pick one out and grab some essential crabby supplies. That night I was doing a bit of research on the net and discovered that what I thought was going to be an easy care pet is actually not at all. They like company, they need the right humidity and temperate, they like fresh fruit and veges cut up really teeny tiny. So now we have a new tank, a hermit hut, a little friend etc etc etc. So introducing Mr Crabs and Spongebob, Mr Crabs is on the left. They are actually quite cute. Jack and O took Mr Crabs in to school for show and tell last week. They don't actually seem to be as social as the internet had said but maybe they're just getting used to each other. Spongebob is definitely more adventurous and is normally crawling all over the tank whereas Mr Crabs has just burrowed in and hardly comes out. I just hope they don't grow too big.

The crabs were biting...

2010-08-15T11:06:00.000+10:00

We went to the beach yesterday with our friends the Williams's for a spot of fishing and a bit of a play. Fishing would be the operative word there since we didn't actually bring anything home but we had a great time. The water was a bit cold but not too bad really and the weather was really lovely.

Here's Jack waiting for the fish/crabs to bite.

Tricia, the supermum and chief fish releaser, with her three gorgeous kiddies, Piper, Sofie & Oliver the fisherman.

The catch of the day!! We caught about half a dozen of these little crabs.

Jack with the other catch of the day, puffer fish. Owen caught two of them.

O, the fisherman.

The boys trying to pump up some little crabs.

After the beach we headed to the little shop and had some fish and chips for dinner before heading home. Thanks Trish for the company. It was a fun afternoon.

My weekend...

2010-08-01T20:14:00.002+10:00

I've had a pretty good weekend this weekend. Nothing spectacular, just got some things done, got to have a catch up chat with my friend Kim and I was well for a change. The last two weekends I have ended up in the ER with gallstone attacks so to have a well weekend has been a really nice change.
Yesterday I got most of the cleaning done in the morning then grabbed my groceries before heading over to Kim's place for a playdate for Jack and a catch up for me.
This morning Jack and I went to check out the Mumma's Fair and pulled up just as Kim was getting the kids out of the car so that was a bonus. There was some nice stuff there but it's a shame it wasn't a bit bigger although I think it's the first one for our area so it wasn't too bad. We shared some nice little cupcakes and then Jack and Charlotte partook in the kid's yoga class which was adorable. I'm pretty keen to start yoga myself actually so I might start that on Tuesday night.

When we got home I made Jack a little plate of lunch and then made myself some sushi for lunch. Yummy!! Smoked salmon and avocado with a little Japanese mayo. It was very tasty. I love sushi.
One of the local scrapbook shops is moving and is going to be only a block away from our house which will be very convenient. I saw them setting up as we were coming home today. I'm keen to get in and do some scrapping but unfortunately my scrap room is chockers full of junk that needs to be sorted, sold or donated. I was feeling a bit inspired today so I actually went through Jack's cupboard and sorted out all his clothes and linen...three garbage bags later. There is a market once a month not far from where we live so I'm going to aim to get everything sorted through in the next few weeks and have a stall there next month if all goes to plan. I was going to have a garage sale but I think that there'd be more patronage there.
Well I'm going to drool over Department 56 Christmas pieces. Jack's already thinking about Christmas. Or maybe I'll check out Halloween decorations instead since Halloween's closer than Christmas.
Ciao

Oh so sweet!!

2010-07-31T10:03:00.000+10:00

Have a look at this gorgeous little cabin. It is just adorable. Click here if you want to see more.

At Target at the moment they have a cute little timber cubby house. Seeing these pictures makes me want to go and buy it and make Jack a little home away from home. Obviously it wouldn't be a shabby chic white little girly house but something suited to a little boy instead like a cowboy theme or a deserted island beach hut. Hmmm, might have to think about that one.

Toy Story 3D

2010-07-18T19:30:00.000+10:00

So today I took Jack to see Toy Story 3, what a great kids flick. All of the Toy Story movies have been really good but the addition of 3D made this one extra special. Yes, I did cry at the end. I had taken tissues with me as I'd read some comments about it and wanted to be prepared. Here's the trailer...

If you're looking for a 3D movie to take your littles to then this one is a good choice.

The added bonus for me is that Jack's interest in the Toy Story characters and toys has been re-ignited. He used to have a Toy Story themed bedroom and obviously had a Toy Story birthday party for his 3rd birthday. He had been given a pair of inflatable Buzz wings which I had stowed away in his cupboard because he was so anti-Toy Story but I pulled them out this afternoon and he wore them for most of the afternoon.

We had walked to the cinema and had to grab a couple of things from the supermarket on our way home and look what we won from the claw game...

The newest addition to Jack's bedtime buddies, Rex!! He has a little collection of things he sleeps with, a teddy, Theodore Chipmunk and a little dinosaur he won at the show. This afternoon he came and asked me if he can have a nap. Of course I said yes, he hasn't napped since he was two, and he went an tucked himself in with his little bed buddies...for about 2 minutes and then hopped back out of bed.
K, I'm off to watch Masterchef. Ciao

Sleep Over!!

2010-07-06T22:27:00.001+10:00

We had made arrangements for Jack's friend Oliver to have a sleep over on Saturday night. It nearly didn't happen, Ollie was starting to get a little nervous about his first non-Grandma sleepover so he bought along his little sister Sofie as his wing man/girl but they both settled down okay for the night after I read them 9 stories!! Jack on the other hand just could not get to sleep. He tossed and turned in his bed until 11pm!! It was crazy.

The next morning was cold cold cold!! It took ages for the reverse cycle to warm up so the kids snuggled under their blankies while they ate their pancakes for breakfast and watched some cartoons.

Then they had a good play. I'm pretty sure they were up to something sneaky here but they were happy enough to smile for the camera.

It was very exciting for Jack to have some junior company at home so thanks Ollie and Sofie for coming.

Jack's First School Sports Carnival

2010-06-29T23:28:00.000+10:00

Jack had his first sports carnival the other week. Now he is not a very good loser so we had spoken to him in detail about how not everyone can win and it's all about having a go and enjoying yourself etc etc. They had been timing the kids at school so they were pitted against worthy rivals. Their race started with a false start so they re-lined up, bang went the starters pistol and they were off and racing. I was so proud of my little boy sprinting down that field, little arms pumping and cheeks jiggling. His little friend Mitchell won the race and Jack was unfortunately at the back of the pack. I could see his little shoulders pull upwards in the start of a sob and I reached him just as a teacher and the headmistress were asking if he was okay. I scooped him up and gave him a big hug and told him how proud I was and what a great job he'd done as I struggled to hold back my own tears. All the Prep kids got a ribbon for competing which took some of the sting out of the loss for him and he recovered quickly enough. I was worried that he wouldn't want to participate in anything else but he was back on the field in the relay race not long after.

The next activities for the Preppies were the ball games. That was adorable to watch. Even though they had been practicing the games at school the excitement of the day made for a bit of confusion as to who was to run and to where. I was very thankful to my boss for letting me have the day off so I could go and Owen stayed for the first race as well which was great.

They took a break for lunch. Jack had a chocolate milk and an ice cream...a real athletes lunch!!

After lunch they had high jump (which wasn't very high and was of mixed techniques, his friend Lauren has some great form), a ball toss, vortex throw and they finished up the day with the long jump, again using a variety of techniques. It started spitting just as they were starting the long jump so the end of the day was timed well. Apart from the not so good start to the morning Jack seemed to enjoy himself which was great and it's always nice to hang out chatting to my friends Tricia, Kim & Erica so it was a good day all round.

The school holidays started this week and so far Jack has done alot of PS3 and Wii playing. He has been asking about going to the "zoo park" for awhile now so after I finished work the other day we headed up there for a couple of hours. We started with a walk around the animal enclosures before heading up to the playground area.

Here's Jack being very co-operative as a size model beside this huge leaf.

Daddy helping him out on the monkey bars.

Sitting on top of one of the big concrete pipe thingy's and looking pretty cute doing it too.

And getting a push from Dad on the swing.

Not much else to report and it's pretty late so I better head off to bed.

Ciao

The Rocky Show

2010-06-10T23:34:00.001+10:00

So after Owen and I finished work yesterday we headed off with Jack to the annual Rockhampton Show!! Woohoo!! Oh what fun!!! I just SOOOOOOOOO love the show. It's such and exciting event in my year!! When we were kids it was just such an extreme treat to go to the show and my brother and I both even used to get a new outfit just for the show. The atmosphere to me is just electric. So many sights and sounds, so many different personalities, different fashions, I nearly go into sensory overload.

We didn't get there until about 4.30 so I did miss out on going through all the pavilions (Jack would be thanking his lucky stars for that). As soon as we got there we went and registered Jack at the Police stand and got him and ID bracelet. Last year we actually found a little lost kid so if there's something like this offered at your local show, I'd definately recommend it. Before we headed off to the rides we went and checked out how we went with our cooking and craft entries and we both did quite well.

Jack received a commendation for his Lego entry which he's proudly pointing to here, it's the green vehicle at the back. He tells me that just about all the protruding thingys are guns, lots of guns, such a boy thing those guns.

He won 2nd place for his layered jar display, Yaay Jack!! His mask wasn't a prize winner unfortunately but you can see it in the photo on the bottom shelf, it's the one with the red pom pom on it's cheek.

I got a 3rd place (I think) for one of my scrapbooking entries and a 2nd place for my jewellery making, Jack unfortunately missed out on a place for his scrap page and fine art drawing. On to the baking!! Jack placed 2nd for his scones and I can't remember now whether he got some type of placing for his muffins as well. I got 2nd for my birthday mini cupcake display and I can't remember what placings I got (all seconds and thirds) for my scones, pumpkin scones and chocolate cake so that was pretty exciting.

*Official Results*

Jack- 1st for chocolates

2nd for bottle of dried food

3rd for batch of plain scones

Commended for Lego display

Me- 1st for Pumpkin scones (thanks Kim)

2nd for Jewellery Making

3rd for Chocolate Cake

3rd for Plain scones

3rd for Mini cake decorating

Commended for scrapbooking (I thought I'd at least gotten third place but nope, just a commended)

By the time we got through that one pavilion Jack was champing at the bit to get stuck into the rides and games so we headed off for him to enjoy himself and enjoy himself he did. He had a ball with all the ball games...

...boat rides (get away shark!!)...

...driving the train...with no hands...woohoooooo this ride is wild!!!...

...the merry-go-round...

...the jumping castle...

and the dogem cars with Dad which he just loved. The last dogems ride they had was pretty rough and I thought at one stage that Jack looked as though he was about to jump out of the car to escape but after he the ride was over and we were walking away he told us that all the big bumps just made him tougher...grrrrrrr...and then he sauntered along with his hat on backwards, "the tough way". Awwwwwwwwww, he's so adorable.

So that was the show for another year and it was great.

Ciao

Bit off more than I could chew...

2010-06-06T21:56:00.000+10:00

So our local show is on this week (which I'm very excited about) and Jack and I have entered a variety of things in the craft and cooking sections as we have the last couple of years. Thinking back now I'm pretty sure that last year I told myself that I should choose just a few things to do and not do so much however I obviously forgot when I was filling in the forms. I had done a read through and highlighted the sections I thought Jack and I should enter and then when I filled in the forms I just kept adding other things. So I have had one hell of a busy baking weekend.

In the craft sections Jack has entered the fine art drawing, a layered jar of dried foods, decorated mask, scrapbooking and the lego and I entered scrapbooking and jewellery making. The cooking was where I went overboard. Jack has entries in the sweets, scones, small cakes, muffins and juvenile cake decorating. I'm in the fudge, scones, pumpkin scones, slice, chocolate cake, tomato relish and the cake decorating. I was meant to be in the chocolates, ring cake, damper and piklets but ran out of time.

This is my wedding cupcake entry

And this is my entry for the birthday cupcake section. I think they're really cute but they won't win because I didn't have time to do any piping (well that and the fact that I'm an amateur who does some wonky work)

As well as all the baking, Jack had a soccer game on Saturday morning and has started Circus Skills classes on Sundays so we have had a full weekend.

I bought this gorgeous oil print from work the other day. I fell in love with her as soon as I saw her. I tried her out in a few different spots before I found the best place for her.

I had to re-arrange a few other things to fit the print in so now this is my entryway and all the photos that were in my entry are now in my hallway. It's nice to have a change around.

Patrick the butterfly and Ollie's Birthday...

2010-05-11T07:17:00.000+10:00

We were spreading some blue metal in the back garden the other day and this little yellow butterfly needed to be rescued from the path of the wheelbarrow. He was a friendly little fella and didn't want to fly away so Jack got the exciting experience of having a little pet butterfly sitting on his finger. He named him Patrick (after Patrick starfish from Spongebob).

After a bit of a modelling stint we put him in Jack's bug catcher so he could take him to Ollie's party.

And here we are at the party. Oliver just LOVES Steve Irwin and LOVES snakes!! It was a pool party at his Grandma's house and Jack was so inspired by all the other kids swimming abilities that he decided he could jump in and swim to the other side all by himself. I sh*t myself. I'm trying to get to him, swimming around and under all the kids, panicing that my baby wasn't going to make it. He did. I gave him a tiny push to get to the side. I was told later that he didn't need my help and he could do it by himself. Growing up is a teeny tiny bit heart-aching for mothers.

Red rimmed eyed Jack and his little mate Jared showing off their scary looking lizards.

It's been a while between posts. We've had some goings on at out place, all good now though. I'm having a bit of trouble getting into a routine with work and school and housework etc but I'm really really hoping to get back into crafting and sewing very soon.

Better get ready for work. Ciao.

A Walk In The Park...

2010-04-19T19:36:00.000+10:00

Just a couple of photos from our Sunday walk with Grandma to the park...

Jack is 5!!

2010-04-13T21:07:00.000+10:00

My baby is 5!!! Can you believe that?! It just seems like yesterday that I first held him in my arms and yet it's been 5 whole years. I want to stop time. I want him to stay little and innocent and sweet. This year in particular with school he has just changed so much. He is still a lovely child but he has definitely learnt some new tricks and things. I guess too being an only child he has been so influenced by us up until now and to him also it must seem like such a change to be in such different circumstances with so many different personalities.

He was pretty excited the night before his birthday. I didn't think he was ever going to be able to get to sleep. He was also pretty excited when he saw his big stack of pressies on the coffee table.

After opening all his presents and having breakfast we started getting everything ready for his party. My Mum came over early and kept Jack occupied by playing with some of his new games and things.

The party was in the afternoon and although I had been very worried that there wouldn't be enough party guests due to so many of his school friends being away on holidays, we ended up having just a good amount of people and everyone fit in the new patio area so that worked out well.

After the obligatory "Pass the Parcel" we played "stick the Omnitrix on Ben 10" (an Omnitrix is the watch thing on Ben 10's arm that makes him turn into the different aliens). I just found a picture of Ben 10 on the internet and blew it up to a gigantic size and printed out the Omnitrix stickers.

We then played a great game I found on a blog I came across. I froze some of Jack's Ben 10 characters in a container of water and the game was that the evil character Vilgax had used a freeze gun to entrap all the Ben 10 aliens. The aliens were put at one end of the patio and at the other end were two bowls of warm water. The kids were each given a plastic shot cup and had to cart the water from the bowl to the other end of the patio to melt the Ben 10 characters out of the ice. Obviously this could be done for any theme of party and I would highly recommend it!! The kids were so occupied with it and hardly any adult interaction was required. If you can have enough of whatever character you're using would be a definate advantage though. We did have some heated exchanges over who's alien was who's to unfreeze.

After that we played "Musical Statues" and then had the cake. This years cake was much much easier than last years and Jack was very impressed by it so that made me very happy. It was a pretty tasty cake too. I used ganache for the crumb layer and even though I didn't have time to let it set hard before applying the fondant it turned out pretty smooth.(It looked better irl)

After the cake I let the kids play for a little while before everyone hopped in the new pool. It was great to have the pool and everyone had a blast. Peer pressure works SOOOOOOO well for kids. Jack has been going to swimming classes for two years and was doing ok there and the few times we'd used the pool before the party he had gained a bit of confidence but OMG you should have seen him at the party. He swam side to side of the pool all by himself!! I was stunned!! Since then he has turned into a real water kid too. Owen has been on holidays over the Easter period so they've been swimming almost every afternoon and Jack can now dive in and swim the full LENGTH of the pool, he can jump in and go down to the bottom, it's amazing. It's like a different child.

See look, here he is swimming underwater!!

So that was his party!! He had a great time and was very pleased that some of his new school friends got to come to his party, he thought that was pretty cool indeed!! He got some fantastic gifts and he and Owen have been kept very occupied on the holidays playing games and building Lego (I built a Lego house, it was way fun!! Lego sure has changed in 30 years).

And now for some random snaps...the beautiful lantern my brother and sister-in-law gave me a few years ago for Christmas. It's been sitting in it's box in the cupboard waiting for somewhere to be hung.

...The double rainbow that was over our fair city the other afternoon.

...just Jack

..and Jack making pizza dough!!

I have been having problems with my computer, hence the late birthday post but hopefully it's all systems go now. It's been driving my bonkers.
That's all folks :)
Ciao

It's finished!!! The pool is finished!!

2010-03-25T20:36:00.000+10:00

The pool is finished!! Yaay, it looks fantastic too. Jack and I had a swim and a spa this afternoon. It was still a little bit cool but wasn't too bad. I'm pretty sure it's going to be too cold to swim for his birthday though.

We had the pool installed by Stewart Pools and just in case anyone comes across this and is looking for a small pool, this model is called the Billabong 6.2 from Barrier Reef Pools. It's a really good size and has a deep and a shallow end. We got a spa bench and jets added as well. Russell and Dan from Stewart Pools were just fantastic. Russell was really great to deal with from the start and had some great ideas and was very helpful with working out the layout and design that would best suit us and then since then has been great with helping to co-ordinate everything and the job they have done is impeccable and they are both really nice, down to earth, easy to get along with guys. Thanks Russell and Dan. Dan's even a real life hero!! He was on his way home for lunch one day and as he was driving along, he spotted flames in the window of a house so he pulled over, went and kicked in the front door to see if anyone was in the house then went around the side, climbed a fence, opened a window to make sure no-one was in danger before he was pulled away by the police!!Here's Jack dipping his feet in the spa end. He was too chicken to get in though. (Note: the band aid, have you seen that ad on at the moment when the guy is in the spa, dips his head under and comes up with someone elses band aid hanging off his face, yucko!! I took the band aid off before he got in the pool, lol)

We are looking forward to many many years of enjoyment from our pool!!

I'll have more photos in a week or so once we've finished and furnished the patio area.

Did you think I'd given up blogging?

2010-03-19T18:21:00.003+10:00

I have had things I could have been blogging about but it just hasn't happened plus whenever I try to use my computer lately it gets taken over by Jack!! So here's a quick rundown...

Jack learnt how to do the washing up.

It has been raining alot here lately. More than we have seen in years. It's really nice to see the town looking so green for a change and there's probably more coming since there's a cyclone warning current for our area. Jack got to test out his new raincoat.

We havn't really been going for our Sunday walks lately because of the weather but we did go a couple of weeks ago to check out all the water.

Mum giving Jack and O a hand to cross over the creek.

And at home we've had a lot going on. We now have a pool!! Here's Jack and O trying out the dingo. Owen got it well and truly bogged, lol. Lucky I was there to advise him on how to get out of the bog.Jack watching Dad try to unbog the dingo.

Jack in the pool!!

All ready for the concrete to be poured...

And this afternoon, concrete done!!

There are still a few things to do: the fence will be done next week, there are still some supports to go on the patio, there are pavers to go around the pool, lots of gardening to do, a bit of painting & some cleaning & some new furniture to be assembled. I can't wait for the first BBQ!!

It was my Grandma's birthday on the 10th so we had dinner at my Aunt Marie & Uncle Rob's place. It's great to see Grandma smiling and looking so good & of course Grandad too, he's a handsome devil as well.

Jack has had a few social engagements lately. He had two parties to go to in one weekend. The second was a super hero dress up ten pin bowling party! It was a blast. Jack of course went as Ben 10, his favourite super hero.

Everything else is going well around here, not much else to report really. Jack's settled in well at school and is mostly excited to go every day. His first school disco was meant to be tonight but was cancelled due to the cyclone warning. Preparations are underway for Jack's 5th birthday party in a couple of weeks. It's Easter weekend though so I am a little worried that a few of his friends won't be able to make it, we've already had a few "no's".

Ok, I'm off to make dinner. Ciao.

Word confusion...

2010-01-30T21:46:00.000+10:00

Jack: "Mummy, I made Kitti a testicle" .

Me: "Huh???"

Jack: pause, quizical look: "Oh, I made her an obstacle"

Me: roflmao

He had left the bedroom door a little open so Kitti had to squeeze through to get out, aka "made her an obstacle."

Is it a hat?

2010-01-29T19:44:00.004+10:00

Jack came out this afternoon with a lamp on his head. "Mum, try this". I did but there's no photographic proof of that one but look how cute Jack looks.Like a funny little elf.

Funny little guy.

On Jack's last day a daycare I had sent in a photo of his daycare bestie and Jack from the Christmas party with Jack's phone number on the back so he's had two phone calls this week from his little friend. It's so funny to hear his half of the conversation. He's so animated and gesturing all over the place. Tonight he wanted to give this little fella, Jake, a call but they weren't home so then we tried Grandma but she wasn't home either. We had success after that though, he phoned his friend Jared, then phoned and left a message for his friend Oliver and then phoned his other friend Lauren, lol. The boy has a busier social circle than me!! Just imagine what he's going to be like when he's a teenager.

Today my baby went to school...

2010-01-27T15:55:00.004+10:00

Well today was the big day! Jack's first day at Prep, yep that's right I am the now officially the mother of a school kid!!

He was so excited from the moment he woke up this morning, "Mum, what day is it today?" and I told him it was Wednesday, his first school day. "Yay, I get to play with my friends". That's what schools all about right, playing with friends. So he hopped in the bath, scrubbed off his Australia Day tattoos, got out and got himself dressed, went and saw Dad to put some product in his hair (lol), brushed his teeth, we put on his socks and shoes, grabbed his bag and headed out the door.

Of course, what's the first day of school without first day photos. Dosn't he look smart!?and handsome.And with his hat on.And a family shot.

We got there and it was a hive of activity. We sorted all his books and things into their allocated spots and put his bag away and then went into the classroom. We said Hello to his friends Lauren and Oliver who are in the same class and then of course Jack gravitated straight to the computer, lol, he really is just like his father. I don't think I saw any kids who seemed stressed or upset, they all seemed to be excited to be exploring a new place with new things to do. We stayed for a about a quarter of an hour before saying our good-byes and leaving our big Preppy to start his school career. I had a few little tears then as we walked away but was staying remarkably composed, then we ran into our friends the Bruckner's. Seeing Kim's red eyes made my breath catch a bit but luckily we were interrupted by the ABC radio guy asking if we could do an interview (haha, of course I stepped forward, did anyone hear me on the radio this morning?).

After we all went our separate ways I headed off to the library to have a peaceful look around and get out some new books for Jack and I. I did a little retail therapy then headed to Woolies to get some groceries and some petrol then headed home. By the time I got home it was almost 1pm so not that long until pick up time anyway. I pottered around the house a bit tidying up, had a cuppa and then it was back in the car to go and pick Jack up from school. Owen took his lunch break late so he could come along as well.

When we got there we waited near the gate for awhile and saw him walking back to his classroom with his classmates and packing his lunch box back in his bag. We were early which is very unusual for me (I actually thought school got out at 2.30 but it's actually 2.45) so we sat and waited for the bell to ring. When it was time we headed into the classroom and Jack was very excited and beaming, showing his Dad around a few things and talking about his friends and his day. All the kids seemed to have had a really good day which is great. We had a bit of an after school chat with this friends and their parents and then dropped O back to work and headed home.

Well, when we got home I showed Jack the books I had chosen for him from the library. Apparently I'm the worst book selector ever!! He was super cranky and sooky and I jokingly told him if he was going to act like this when he got home from school then he would have to have a nap every afternoon (he hasn't napped since he was 2!!, not a napper at all). He had huffed off to the bedroom when Owen's Dad came around to see how his first day had gone and refused to come out to even say Hello. So I had a coffee and chat with JG and then went in to get Jack to come and say goodbye to his grandad to find that he was fast asleep! and he stayed that way for and hour and a half. He must have had a big first day!!

So, we survived!! The first day is done and dusted!! now on to the next 13 years.

A trip to the beach...

2010-01-24T22:32:00.003+10:00

My cousin Julie and her family are up for a visit from Melbourne this weekend so Jack and I headed down to the beach where they are staying for a bit of a visit. The last time I had seen Julie & Steve was when I went to the scrap retreat down there, so a fair while ago and I hadn't yet met the latest addition to their family, the adorable Danielle.

Here she is having her first ever walk on the beach. She is such a sweet little thing. The kind of baby you just want to cuddle.And this is Julie with their son, Lachlan getting their feet wet. Poor Lachie is covered in bites from something. He is such a little cutie with a killer smile.And I could not believe Jack in the water. It was pretty choppy and he went in way past his waist all by himself. He had an absolute ball. Definitely has gained alot of confidence in the water in the last six months.My Mum came over this afternoon and while we were out in the yard discussing our future garden plans I spotted this nest in the top of one of our big shrubs (I really need to get a bigger lens). I havn't seen one of these types of nests around before. It is quite small and looks like it's made from a very fine material. Any bird experts our there that can tell me what type of bird it belongs to? I'll have to keep and eye on it and see if I can see the birds it belongs too.The same shrub, which is a geisha girl duranta, is always home to these big buzzy bumble bees. It's just incredible to watch them. It's seriously inconceivable that their little wings can carry them.Tomorrow is Jack's last day at daycare!! I decorated an old coffee tin and filled it with lollies to give to the teachers at his daycare. Another step closer to Jack's first day a school!!

Well, I'm off to bed, nighty night.

Hmmmmmmm...cupcakes...

2010-01-22T19:57:00.006+10:00

Yesterday I did some grocery shopping at Coles and they have those little kid sized trolleys so of course Jack had to have one to zip around the aisles with. He also, of course, had to fill his trolley with his choice of products, first stop the bakery. He was looking for donuts but since they didn't have any he decided instead to have a french stick. It was probably about as tall as him. That's actually what he had for dinner last night, half a french stick, well at least the insides of half a french stick. He ended up with a variety of things in his trolley, cheese, 2kg of sugar, flavoured milk syrup, poppers and mini biscuit packs for his school lunches next week. Amongst his purchases was a packet mix of cupcakes which we whipped up today. Yummo, I love cupcakes...so does Jack.
I also scrapped a simple double LO today. I have a gazillion photos that need to be scrapped but not really any that I'm interested in scrapping so I'll have to get some more photos printed next week.

Jack also did some scrapping this afternoon and he tells me he wants to do more tomorrow too. God help my button stash, that's probably his favourite thing to use. He scrapped a photo of himself and one of our cat so apparently tomorrow he has to do a page on Dad, one on Bella & one on Compas, the bird that lives in the tree out the front of our house, even though we don't have a photo of Compas, apparently I can take one of his house.

Getting back on the scrap wagon...

2010-01-21T19:35:00.002+10:00

Or at least I'm trying to.
We sold our old dining suite which was under the mountain of stuff that was blocking up my scrap room so we had to pull everything out and put it all back in so finally the path to my desk is clear!! So last night I sat and pushed paper around for ages before finally doing this super simple LO. I think it's going to take me a while to get back into the swing of it and know what product I've got stashed where but I'm looking forward to getting back into it. I also did this LO last week. Again, very very simple but I've decided that that is my style and I'm going to try to focus more on journalling.

Havn't been doing much else, a bit of sorting and cleaning. Today Jack and I went to the pool with some of our friends which was just lovely. Jack got stung by a bee however which wasn't so lovely but he made a pretty quick recovery. At least I know he's not allergic now which I can cross off my list of worries for when he goes to school. Speaking of which, that is not very far away now either, just a couple more days and I'll be the Mum of a Preppy.

Ciao

Ah, the old slip 'n slide...

2010-01-13T21:51:00.002+10:00

Brings back such great childhood memories of summers at the beach house with all my cousins.

This was the first outing Jack's slip n slide has had. It was one of his Christmas presents. He has used a slip n slide before he tells me at daycare but I think he needs a bit more practice to get up some bravado.

He was standing over near the swings, he fakes spitting on his two hands then rubs them together in preparation (I don't know where he picked that up from), gets his little run up, pauses at the end of the slide and then dives on, then he just comando crawls his way down the slide. I tried to tell him to just run and jump but he didn't seem to get it. I would have shown him how but the slide is only 4 metres long and I didn't really feel like getting catapulted into the garden or over the retaining wall. He had a great time though and it was a nice way to spend a hot afternoon and I got some gardening done while he played. When we went to pack up to go inside however I discovered that the little rat had used the rest of my almost full bottle of dishwashing liquid!! At least the it should help the water penetrate a bit better I guess.

A quick trip to the beach...

2010-01-03T20:44:00.004+10:00

I wanted to take Jack to the beach today and since O's days off conflict with Jack and I most weeks we decided to go down late this afternoon after O finished work. Jack asked if Bella could come and we thought she may as well since she hasn't been to the beach in years. Turns out it was not such a good idea. I'm sure I've mentioned before but she's 15 (so 105 in human years) and she has quite bad arthritis in one leg and is not easy to walk at the best of times. She would take 2 steps and then lie down, 2 more steps, lie down etc etc, if Jack an I got out of her sight she would whine and whine. Some passers-by even snickered at her lack of speed. When we were leaving O just carried her back up to the car, otherwise we'd probably still be there. How cool is Jack's new swim shirt?! He got it for Christmas. I think it's pretty cool.

We saw a couple of these little jellyfish washed up on the sand.

Jack hada ball splashing around in the rock pools. He was trying to catch the little fish but didn't have much luck. He did manage to catch a couple of hermit crabs though.

Jack, Daddy O & Bella.

Jumping the waves.

I found this funny thing along the low tide line. I'm not sure what it is but it looked pretty cool. I thought it might have been some sort of sea anemone.

And this photo O took of Jack jumping in one of the rock pools just before we left. Such joy in the little thing.

Ciao.

Another LO and a cheeky lad

2010-01-03T16:03:00.003+10:00

So I have another scrap LO to show. A layout of Jack's 3rd birthday, he's almost 5, that's how far behind I am in my scrapping!! Just a simple one.Speaking of Jack, the cheeky little bugger. He asked me where Daddy's Mummy remote was this morning so I got it down for him to have a look at. I was sititng at the table having my breaky and he is sitting in the lounge looking very smug, he points the remote at me and presses a button and say "Mummy, get me some ice-cream". He was most dissapointed that it didn't work.Here is the offending remote control. Santa's present to O.

We're off to the beach this afternoon, just waiting for O to come home. Hopefully it's not raining down there.

My 1st scrap page of 2010

2010-01-01T20:18:00.004+10:00

Hopefully the first of many. I'm really keen to get back into scrapping, I just still need to clear out my room.

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-01T10:27:00.005+10:00

We had a lovely start to our New Year today with a nice sleep in albiet with Jack in our bed but a sleep in is always nice. And no, we didn't sleep late because we were up partying all night, we had a very very quiet New Year's. I did make Malibu Prawns for dinner last night though so that was out celebration. Jack and Owen played Ben 10 on the Wii and I watched a couple of movies, My Sisters Keeper, which was so sad and such a beautiful movie, Management, which was awful and The Ugly Truth which was great, very funny.

Owen and I were discussing New Year resolutions last night. I have a few, the usual...eat healthier, exercise more (or really in my case, exercise.), stress less, do more around our home which once we get our pool and patio (hopefully very soon, pleeeeeeeease council) will happen anyway, do more family activities, etc etc. I love a New Year though and a new calendar, it definately makes me feel refreshed and positive.

We went to the Kenrose Park go-kart track yesterday for a little karting action. Jack had a ball. Here he and I are all helmeted up for our race...we came last. LOL. This is apparently his 'excited' face before his next race with Dad.Here are he and O zooming around the track.Jack, the kart champion!!It was great fun. We'll definately be going again.

And lastly I want to send out Congratulations to the newest Mr & Mrs Weaver!! My cousin Shane and his girlfriend Claire tied the knot yesterday in Hawaii. I can't wait to see the photos. I LOOOOOOOOOVE Weddings!!

Happy New Year!! I'm off to take down my Christmas decorations.

Cheers!!

Eeewwww Gelli Baff...Yummm Truffles

2009-12-28T21:37:00.002+10:00

Jack got some Gelli Baff from Santa for Christmas so of course we had to use it straight away. I filled the bath to the required depth, poured in the stuff, swirled it around to gelli, Jack stepped in and was too grossed out to sit down. He walked around in it for a bit discussing it's grossness before asking for it to be gone. Now I don't know if I did it wrong but that second sachet didn't make the gelli dissapear. So I emptied it out and Jack had a bubble bath instead!!

You know, apart from the obvious sharing of love with family and friends, one of the best things about Christmas is enjoying the left-overs. Here's my morning tea, a latte and too many truffles.

Yummy yummy!!

Chistmas 2009

2009-12-26T20:48:00.006+10:00

We went and watched the Carols by Candlelight with our friends the Bruckner's and the William's. I must say that I wasn't very impressed with the carols this year. There were too many 'old' songs and not much excitement for the kiddies. There was the fireworks which were very pretty. Jack had a bit of a fireworks aversion and we had gotten ear plugs for when we went to the fire in the sky but there wasn't any warning that the fireworks were about to start when we went to the carols so Jack just put his own hands over his ears. We also had a get-together for our playground families at Tricia's Mum's place. I so love our group of playmates and I'm so happy we all met. They are great friends. Jack, and all the other kids, had a ball in the pool. Jack's confidence in the water was really great at the end of the day. It really helps seeing his other friends just splashing about.

Owen has started replacing the retaining wall out the back of the house in preparation for the major works we HOPE to have in the new year (damm council!!). He had done the base layer of about five metres of the wall and I was out inspecting his work and came up with a brilliant new plan. Now personally I think O was lucky that he had only done 5 metres before I changed where it should go. LOL. Poor O. He does agree though that the new plan is better.

Here's his builders lacky helping him out.

And now, on to Christmas.

My Mum came over to help me out with all the preparations for the big day (thanks Ma). Before she left in the afternoon I got her to help Jack with making some magic reindeer food (oats, glitter and magic kisses, mix together).

Weeds and Wildflowers had these gorgeous Reindeer Food envelopes as a free download as part of their 12 Days of Christmas. We filled the other design up and Mum dropped it over to Jack's 2nd cousin, Ally. She was thrilled apparently and the reindeers even left some poop at her Grandma's place where she was staying. Here's Jack sprinkling out the food.

I made some snowflake shaped sugar cookies and gave Jack a big one to decorate and leave out for Santa.

Not a creature was stiring... Jack was so funny Christmas morning. I had gone in to check on him and pull his covers up. He stirred and said something and then closed his eyes again so I stayed and watched him for a while to see if he'd wake up remembering that it was Christmas. He didn't. He climbed out of bed and started heading out of his room so I said, "what's that behind you", he turned around and spotted his overflowing santa sack full of pressie and says "Oh, I forgot about that!". As he unwrapped everything he was putting them in 2 piles, one was the 'cool' pile, the other was obviously not quite cool enough.(and yes, he does have the same shirt on from the day before, Mummy was very busy)

Bella on Christmas morning. She got some bacon strap treats from Santa and Kitti got some salmon bites.

Santa got O a "Control a Woman" remote control. LIKE THIS ONE. He hasn't tried it out yet but I doubt he's holding his breath as to whether it truly works. I got a percussion back massager along with some other goodies. Thanks Santa.

We had a slow start to Christmas, everyone was running late, which was not a bad thing as I still had plenty to do before they arrived.

I tried out a new recipe for a Prawn Mousse. I have had some moulds for a couple of years and never used them so I was very excited to be able to use my lobster mould. However...a few of my guests thought that it was rather phallic!! I think they just have dirty minds (Mark, Jess, Jenny...I'm talking about you guys) I just don't see the connection.

Here's my Mum with my nephew Joe and my neice Rasharna.

Jenny, Justin, Joe, Mum, Grandad, Grandma and Michael Kevin, Mark, Jess, Marie, Rob, Owen, Bella & Michael

My Mum, my Grandad and my Grandma.

O and Jack

Rob and Ally

Marie and Jack

Rasharna, Grandad, Grandma, Jack and Joe

Joe, my brother Kevin and RasharnaThe deserts!!

It was a really nice day. I love catching up with family, the whole noise and atmosphere is fantastic.

Well, I'm off to have some leftover truffles and a cuppa.

Cheers

Rest In Peace Poppy

2009-12-07T20:54:00.003+10:00

I was on my way to pick O up from work one afternoon about 8 or so years ago and on the way there I saw a puppy sitting on the side of the road, watching the afternoon traffic pass her by. I mentioned it to Owen and of course she was still there on the way back home so we turned around to check if she had an ID tag or anything on her but to no avail. Well we couldn't just leave her there could we so we took her home and listed her in the lost and found on the radio and in the paper but with no luck.

She was a beautiful natured puppy. She used to sit on your foot or lean up against your leg, she just couldn't get close enough. She had the cutest pigeon-toed front legs. We called her Puppy while we tried to find her a new home.

We did find her a home...ours. After a couple of months my Mum asked if we were going to change her name since she was still with us so we started calling her Poppy.

She was a big galoof of a dog. Always underfoot, always wanting to sit on your lap. I'm sure she didn't realise how big she was. She was very very affectionate and was well loved in our neighbourhood. I could hear the neighbours talk to her as they walked past our house and she would talk right back.

She was a sooky thing. Always looking for a pat and a chat and quick to befriend anyone who came to visit. You could not not pat her, she just demanded it. She would nudge you with her wet nose until a pat was forth-coming.

A couple of years ago she was diagnosed with a form of skin cancer and we were told that it would eventually be fatal. She had had a couple of rounds of surgery to remove some spots over the last couple of years.

Last week she developed a bit of a limp so I took her to the vet's to get it checked out. They gave her some take home pain relief and when it didn't get better in a week an appointment was made for her to have some x-ray's on Wednesday while she was under anaesthetic for removal of some more spots.

Unfortunately this afternoon when I got home from work, her beautiful tail wagging smiling self wasn't at the gate. I knew straight away something was wrong. I got Jack inside and ran out to the yard. I found her lying in the shade in the back corner of the garden.

RIP Angel Poppy. We love you and you will be dearly missed.

All Christmas'd up...

2009-12-06T21:35:00.004+10:00

Well our house is definately all Christmassy at the moment.
Again here is my Department 56 village display... Our Christmas tree...

Our dining room...I really love the 'boughs of holly'. It's from Big W and was only about $10 for 14 metres. I was going to take the branch down after Halloween but decided to leave it for another Christmas.A close up of the hanging decorations, isnt' the icicle gorgeous. Jack has been watching a few Christmas DVD's of late and after watching Maisy Christmas wanted to make some gingerbread men. They turned out really well and are very tasty. I didn't have any ground ginger so just used bottled ginger but it still turned out great. And yes, he is half naked, lol, it's pretty hot here at the mo.

Decorating the little guys with some coloured white chocolate.

This is Jack singing at the top of his lungs..."Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, Oh what fun it is to ride in the one who's broken sleigh"And this...

hopefully in a week will be rock candy on sticks...we'll see!!

My little snow village display...

2009-12-04T23:19:00.003+10:00

I have spoken before about my love of Department 56 North Pole village pieces so here is my little Department 56 village display. There are a couple of pieces of Lemax in there too. It's sooooo cute. Here's a couple of close ups...

And lastly Jack having a run under the sprinkler. Didn't you just love to do that when you were a kid.

Tis the season...

2009-11-29T12:24:00.002+10:00

For Christmas parties!!
Jack's daycare Christmas party was on Friday night at the Crazy Joker.
He had an absolute ball. Here he is on the carts with his daycare bestie. On the giant slide with Dad...

Getting a present from Santa...Unwrapping said present (which he then had a little hissy fit about because he didn't want books from Santa)Then last night we had our work Christmas party which was also a great night. Jack and Owen had a good swim in the pool, the water was so devine I wish I could have gone in too. Everyone seemed to enjoy the night.

Yesterday I decided to clean out my scrap room a bit and pull out all my Christmas decorations in preparation for the festive season. So since I can now get to my desk I thought I may as well scrap and what better way to start than with this years Christmas photo with Santa. Nice and early...lol. I've also get a book from last year that I started and never finished which I'm hoping to finish in the next couple of days. I'm a bit of a stickler for not decoration until the first of December but I've started laying our my Department 56 North Pole Village since it normally takes a bit of work. I'm waiting on a few pieces to come from America which I'm hoping will get here very very soon. Ahhhhhhh, I LOVE Christmas.

2 Posts in 1 Day!!

2009-11-22T21:56:00.003+10:00

I got some nice shots this afternoon while we were out on our Sunday walk. When we got to the playground our friends, the Bruckner's, were there so Jack had a great time playing with Jared.
Jack... Jack's bestie, Jared...

More Jack...Cute little Charlotte...

And again, more Jack... And the newest member of the Bruckner clan, little Hunter...

Some flora...

And back to Jack...& Owen of course.

On our way home today we stopped at Fruitziyama which has just opened it's first franchise here in Rockhampton. Jack asked if we could go there every day for desert, mind you we hadn't had dinner yet. So after some ice cream/frozen yoghurt we stopped next door... and got some noodles from The Noodle Box. Jack did pretty well with his first try using chopsticks.

Okey dokey, off to edit more photos. Ciao.

I know, i know...I've been a very slack blogger...

2009-11-22T12:08:00.004+10:00

There has been nothing really to blog about. Jack is not as easy to photograph as he used to be so I havn't even had many photos to show. My scrap room is full of old furniture and junk so I can't get in there to scrap but hopefully I'll get it cleared out soon because I feel like doing some Christmas things including some sewing projects so we'll see what happens.
I did get a couple of cute snaps of Jack when we went for our walk last week. He is growing up so quickly and is really changing lately. He's even skipped a couple of clothing sizes. He'll be off to prep next year which is Queensland's equivalent to preschool I guess but it is full time so that will be a huge change for our family.It's exciting to see him grow and change and learn but as a Mum it does make me a little sad. He is truly such a beautiful, kind and sweet little fella.Yesterday we went to the wedding of Ryan and Rosalie. Jack wore his first ever tie. He looked so adorable.This is the face I normally get nowdays when I try to take photos. Even it is adorable.Talk about being a poser though, LOL.

Rockin' the lens.

The wedding was lovely. I'm a big fan of weddings hence my love of the Style Me Pretty website. Ryan and Rosie had the most beautiful blue colour theme, everyone looked wonderful. There were a few other kids there and Jack has a good time playing with the other kids. He was one of the last kids standing later in the night so he got to take part in the garter toss ceremony with the other bachelors and he won!!Someone told him it was a headband so he happily wore it for the rest of the night. He had a great time carving up the dancefloor with one of the little flower girls, he even gave her a couple of spins and everything. They were so sweet.

We have a few things coming up in the next couple of weeks. We have our parent/teacher interview next week and then on Friday is Jack's daycare Christmas party and Saturday is our work one. We are getting a Trueline patio in the next couple of weeks too so that will make a big difference to our home and there are a few other things to organise along with that. We are getting a pool put in in January and Owen is re-building our back retaining wall so there are lots and lots of changes going on. I'm itching to start decorating for Christmas but I always stick to tradition and don't start decorating until the first of December. There are such great decorations around nowdays especially all the wall clings and things.

Anyhoo, I'm off to work on a Chrsitmassy slide show of Jack's Christmas shoot for this year. Ciao.

Halloween catch up...

2009-11-07T22:18:00.005+10:00

So Jack had decided that he wanted to be a T-Rex for Halloween so I did a little look around on the net and found some really easy to follow photo instructions on someone's blog about how to make a T-Rex papier mache mask and then he decided he wanted to be a Triceratops instead!! I used the same basic structural ideas as the T-Rex head and changed the shape etc to make a Triceratops head instead. Jack and I went shopping and he picked out the fabric for his costume, apparently Triceratops' are orange, and I made a simple shirt and pants for his costume. I stole this photo of my friend Tricia's facebook because I didn't get a very good photo of his costume. Here are the boys moving in for the Trick or Treating.
All ready to head off Trick or Treating. How cute do all the kids look.Jack and I made a bat pinata.Which kept the kids amused for awhile. No matter how thin I think I'm making pinata's they always take forever to bust.And then in for dinner in the spooky dining room for the adults... and the kids had their own little table set up in the theatre room and they got to watch Dora Halloween while they had their dinner which made it much easier for the adults to enjoy their dinner.It was a really fun night. I love the mood of Halloween, it such a good night for a party.

The next day Jack and I went to my Aunt & Uncle's place for a farewell afternoon for my cousin Shane and his fiance Claire. They are getting married in Hawaii on New Year's Eve and then will be going to America which is where Claire is from. Shane had brought Claire to our house to go Trick or Treating with the kids the night before too.

This is my Grandma, my Aunt Marie, my Mum and my Aunt Jenny all looking very festively Hawaiian in their lei's.

A little time away...

2009-10-21T23:49:00.010+10:00

My Mum and I had organised a little shopping trip away with Jack and a couple of days before Owen decided to come with us for the first couple of days.

We decided to drive down since we were going to be doing some shopping. It's about a seven or eight hour drive but the time went by easily enough even for Jack thanks to a portable dvd player.

We stayed at the Brisbane Holiday Village in Eight Mile Plains which was absolutely fantastic. If you're in Brisbane and need somewhere to stay, especially with kids, it is the coolest place. They have a few differnet styles of cabin. We stayed in a Metro cabin which was a two bedroom and really does have everything you need.

Jack had a very quick dip in the kiddie pool the first night we were there, the water was pretty cold. Unfortunately we didn't get time to play but check out the mini gold course they have...The staff were so friendly and helpful and we ate breakfast and dinner in the cafe. The meals were great and really good value for money. As I said, I would definately recommend it.

On Thursday we took Jack to Movieworld. They have Halloween decorations up everywhere. We had a great day, Jack had a ball. I loved the Shrek 4D movie, that is just incredible.They have characters walking around that you can get your photo taken with. The look on Jack's face in this photo with Batman is pure fear. He didn't want anything at all to do with him. I thought he was just being shy but he wouldn't even look at him.

The Flash on the other hand, he loved. The actor was really good with kids, really friendly and took his time to make Jack feel comfortable.

The character statues around the place were great. Jack insisted on making a funny face. Here he is with Yosemite Sam.

Jack standing under the vulture topped entry to the Wild West Falls area. It looked like a great ride but you get soaking wet.

Daddy was a great sport and went on the rides with Jack. Here they are in one of Tweety's birdcages.

And on the train ride.

And riding a rocket with Wile-E-Coyote on the carousel. He also went on the Sylvester ride that goes up and down, he definately didn't want a second turn, he had the same face as the Batman photo. He had been saying he wanted to go on the roller coaster as well but quickly changed his mind when he saw it.

Here's Jack having a bit of a cuddle with Daffy Duck.

I had been trying to get Jack to go on the Scooby Doo ride which I thought was just a ghost train thing but luckily he didn't want to. Owen & I went on it. HOLY CRAP!! I nearly hyperventilated!! I have definately grown out of my ride/roller-coaster stage of life apparently. I screamed and screamed, it's actually a rollercoaster in a building, in the dark, with sound effects. As I said...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

After our day at Movieworld we stopped for dinner at Cactus Jack's. There used to be a Cactus Jack's in Rockhampton but it closed down a couple of years ago. The food and margaritas are still as delicious as I remember. After dinner we had a good browse through Ikea. They have some really cool stuf and so well priced.

Owen caught the early flight home on Friday morning and our bloody GPS stopped working just as I left the airport. I ended up driving aimlessly around Brisbane for and hour and a half before the GPS kicked back in (thankfully).

We caught a bus into the city for a full day of shopping and after a coffee and some banana bread for breaky we started shopping. I'm pretty sure we saw just about every store in the Queen Street Mall.

We then headed over to the museum to check out the cool dinosaur display. Jack was amazed, as were Mum and I. It's suck a great display.Jack wanted his photo taken with just about every animal in the display. Here he is with the gigantic prehistoric fish head skeleton.

Hamming it up with the crocodile skull...

Coyly patting the turtle...

Pretending to scratch under the leopards chin...

And checking out the starfish/anenome display... After the museum we headed over to the Southbank Markets and had a ride on the giant ferris wheel. It's a great view from up there.

We had a good look at the markets and then grabbed some fresh corn for dinner and sat at the edge of the pool they have down there so Jack could have a little splash on the steps, well that was the plan at least. You know how you say something so many times that it acutally eventuates,

Me: "Be careful Jack"

Jack: "Yes Mum"

Me: "Slow down Jack, be careful"

Jack: "Yes Mum"

Me: "Be careful Jack, you don't want to fall in"

Jack: "Yes Mu.......arrrrrghhh, SPLASH, glub glub glub"

...in he went, fully clothed, he even had a hat on so of course up I jump, one leg in, leather shoe and jeaned and all to fish him out. We dried him out with some of my purchases from the day and then dressed him in a rolling stones t-shirt Mum had bought for a gift (you know the one, the tongue out Stones logo). He got some very funny looks.

On Saturday morning we got up early and made our way to Eumundi. OMG, the markets there are phenomenal!! They are HUGE!!, there is so much to see. There is also a great shop on the main street there, All Things Christmas. I got a couple of ornaments and some pieces to add to my Christmas village. There is almost too much to see at the markets in one day. After the markets we headed to Montville for a browse through a few of the stores there. Again, lots to see, so many beautiful things and then we headed to Noosa to spend the night before driving home to Rockhampton (we did have a stop at the Gympie markets on our way home and I got a really cool pumpkin soup terrine)

It was so nice to get away and great to be able to spend some time with my Mum and O & Jack and nice to get out and do some shopping too.

Halloween is coming...

2009-10-10T22:04:00.003+10:00

This year I decided to start decorating at the beginning of October so I can a full months

enjoyment out of the decorations before I have to extract all the faux cobweb from my house. There hasn't been as much paraphernalia around this year but I have found some great free printable labels on the net.

I got this cool cling from Spotlight which I have on the floor at my front door.

The table in the entry is ladden with treats with the same labels I used last year from the Martha Stewart site.The skeletons are hung over the dining table and I made a tabletop graveyard scene for my centrepiece this year.A close up of the centrepiece with a partially exposed skeleton poking out of the dirt.This year I made out buffet into a twisted apothecary table with a variety of cool witchy items.I need to paint a couple of the jar lids because the green raguletto lids sort of lose the effect a bit.but I found some super cool labels here at Love Manor.
There are a few more things that I still have planned which hopefully I'll get to in the next couple of weeks.

Belated Happy Birthday to Me & my Mum!!

2009-10-04T20:23:00.004+10:00

On Sunday I had invited my friends Charlene and Ann over for brunch and a catch up. We had a huge brunch of fruit, bacon, chipolatas, eggs benedict and chocolate french toast with chocolate dipped strawberries. I got Jack to take a photo of us, once it was straightened and cropped he had sone a pretty good job.Sunday was also my Mum's Birthday so I hosted afternoon tea at my place to celebrate, I even cracked out my Noritaki. It was a lovely afternoon, a couple of my aunts came over along with my Grandma and Grandad. I tried out a couple of new recipes too. We had : Savoury Shortbread with Tomato Jam, Herb Piklets with Cream Cheese, Smoked Salmon and Faux Caviar (par cooked tapioca, soaked in soy),Finger sandwiches, Ham & Mustard and Chicken, Avocado, Cashew and Mayo, Fruit Kebabs, Scones with Jam and Cream, Melting Moments, Profriteroles and Chocolate Coated Strawberries.
As usual I over-catered so I even had left overs to take to work the next day which was my birthday. I work with an American lady named Sherrie and she made a brownie for my birthday served with ice cream and hot Hershey's chocolate fudge. OMG!!! It was to die for. Soooooooooooo yummy.
Sherrie also hosted a party at her & her partner's house the other night to introduce us to some American cuisine. There were oooooooooohhhhhs & aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhs galore. She is such a good cook. I've had a look at the USA Foods website and I think there are a few things I might have to try like candy corn for Halloween. Speaking of Halloween I've been busy decorating, I'll be back tonight to load up some photos.

Children's Springtime Festival

2009-09-27T20:52:00.003+10:00

Jack and I met up with some friends today at the Children's Springtime Festival at the Heritage Village. It was pretty cool, a bit of a shame there wasn't more there but the things that were there for the kids were pretty good. There was face painting, pet rock making, collages, aboriginal painting, music, schoolyard games, soccer etc etc.
There was a lady teaching the kids hula hoop tricks. Jack didn't quite get it but you should have seen his friend Jared hula'ing away, very impressive!!There was a huge big canvas where the kids could have their hand included in some aboriginal art.There were sessions by "Play Music Play" which is a local program where the kids play different instuments and do some singing and dancing. I'm thinking of doing this for the next term since soccer has finished for the year.Jack, Jared & Ollie went on the big tunnel/slide jumping castle. Kids and jumping castles, perfect match.Jack and Jared had a turn on the fishing simulator which looked like so much fun. I didn't feel the weight in it but they looked like they were putting some real muscle into it.

It was a really good day and something that should be done more often. It was great to see what activities are available to the kids. Jack was driving me balmy when we first got there, straight away wanting to go on the jumping castle, especially when we had been at a party last night where he had free reign of a jumping castle for hours!!

Speaking of the party last night, it was a BBQ dinner Hen's/Buck's night and they had a 20 metre slip n slide set up in the backyard and at the top was a blow up pool full of Gelli!! Jack had a bit of a splash around in there before going down the slide, I touched it and it felt pretty slimy (and cold). It's pretty cool stuff. They had those giant padded sumo suits too, tons of fun.

That's all folks. I'm going to try to live a more exciting life so I have something to blog about. Ciao

Nothing to tell...

2009-09-13T21:40:00.003+10:00

Long time no post hey, well that's because I have nothing to tell or show. Life is cruising, usual routine. I did go and see the production of Steel Magnolias last Friday night which was good and before the show my friend Kim and I went to The Edge for tapas which was really good and I sampled my first mojito, yummy!!
Jack's soccer break up was on last Sunday too. Here he is performing a power kick!! I'm dissappointed that there is such a big break between seasons for soccer, oh well, we'll have to find something else to learn.Not much happened during the week, just the usual jazz. Yesterday Jack and I babysat my friend Charlene's little girl which was interesting. You very quickly forget what toddlers are like. She was adorable.
Grandma came over today for her Sunday visit and we headed down to the creek. We won't be able to call it that soon, it's sooooooo dry at the moment. We havn't had rain in over 100 days apparently.
Anyway, here's Jack looking adorable.He had a haircut today. He sure is growing up.And lastly, check this out...colour me green!!!! Why oh why can't this be my attic instead of Martha Stewart's? She gets a beautiful big airy attic craft room and what do I have...a very noisy fat rat!! Unfair

Playdates with friends

2009-08-30T14:28:00.006+10:00

On Friday Jack and I went over for a playdate with his friend Jared and his little sister. It's interesting to see boys playing together. The whole fight/wrestle/roughhouse thing must just be inbuilt in their genetics. It makes them seem so grown up already. I think next year with the influences from school are going to make a big difference to Jack's play behaviour. I think because he's an only child he may get a bit of a shock when he's mixed with so many other kids. He goes to daycare of couse and there are a few kids there that are a bit rough and it's always one of the first things he tells me about. I'm having lots of mother worries already and school is still months and months away. Maybe I really should home school him.

It wasn't all wrestling though, we went outside and the kids played playdough for awile before having a bit of a kick around with the ball and some chasey.Jared making some playdough wormsJack and that tongue...And look, it's catching...And then yesterday our friend Tricia invited us over for a BBQ and a play. Jack wanted to take over his bubble stuff. Here's Sofie making some giant bubblesAnd here's little Piper. She was having a ball trying to eat everything in site, the sand, some leaves...Jack playing in the sandpit.Sofie hanging upside down on the monkey bars. And as we were leaving the kids got to do sparklers...

This morning Jack and I went to the movies with my friend Charlene to see "Up". It was a lovely movie, sad and sweet and funny and nice. Animated movies nowdays are just so well done. The colours and the amazing details were just stunning. It's a very nice family movie to see but be warned I did tear up a few times.

Ciao

Jack's First Fishing Adventure

2009-08-28T09:06:00.005+10:00

Jack has been talking about going fishing lately so we bought a little rod and reel set the other day and yesterday we headed down to the beach.

We started out at Ross Creek and Jack and O caught this little guy (which of course we threw back in). Jack was a bit freaked out and it took some encouraging to get him to stand next to it. We kept getting snagged on the rocks and Jack was getting a bit restless so we decided to head over to Cooee Bay instead and do some beach fishing and have a splash around. Jack was interested for about 5 minutes before he gave up.

I had a bit of a go and caught this whopper!!

It was a bit windy down at beach and there was a bit of seaweed around but it's still nice to wade around in the ocean and get a bit of water therapy. Ahhhhhh the beach, so relaxing......

Sunday at the Great Western

2009-08-23T23:12:00.005+10:00

My friend Tricia phoned me this morning to let me know that there was a family fun day on at a local pub called The Great Western. I really really needed to be cleaning my house but I just can't stand the thought of missing out on something fun so Jack and I headed off to check it out. When we got there it was not quite the crowds I was expecting, apparently it was just a small event so our kids ended up with the jumping castle practically to themselves all morning and jump they did!!
Jack, always with that tongue sticking out...
Ollie...and Sofie (she's calling out to her Dad who's a chef there in this photo, "Dad, watch me")I love this photo.And here's Jack's little gravel rashed patches from where he slid across the dirt on his face the other day, his legs move faster than his body some times.And having a ride on the shetland pony. This very same pony was used just moments earlier as a bucking pony for some of the young cowboys and was still giving the odd little skip around when the kids were riding on it.And Jack hanging off the rails of the bull ring.We did see some bull riding and some juniors on some potty calves as well. Crazy sport that bull riding, definately not something I hope Jack wants to do in the future.
And here's a couple of photos from our bubble blowing session the other afternoon.

Sweet Ava

2009-08-22T21:41:00.005+10:00

I've spent tonight blog browsing, checking out all sorts of things including some of my favourite regular sites I visit. One of the sites I visit on a regular basis is the blog of Sheye Rosemeyer, an Australian photographer. I'm sure originally I would have come across her site from a link on EB about the story of her precious angel daughter, Ava.

Ava, the Super Princess tragically passed away on the 5th of February 2007, today would have been her 6th Birthday. I have read and re-read Sheye's blog numerous times over the last couple of years. Her writing is breath-catchingly honest and beautiful. Here is a link to her blog.

Happy Heavenly 6th Birthday Super Princess Ava.

Well....

2009-08-18T20:27:00.004+10:00

A quick rundown of what we've been up to...
Something very exciting happened this week!! The new Stockland shopping centre extension opened!!! ROCKY NOW HAS THE BODY SHOP!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAY!!!
The extension is very nice, much larger than I thought it was going to be and oh so many new stores. It's so nice to have so many choices!! Jack and I went to the grand opening on Thursday with my friend Charlene and her little daughter Aeryon and then we went again on Friday with Owen. I bought a really nice pair of earrings but not much else. On Friday when we went with O we were sitting watching the clown do his magic show, O was standing up the back behind us. The clown came down into the crowd to let the kids pat the bunny rabbit and then handed it to O and went back up on stage, then he called O up on stage to bring the rabbit up. He asked him to help with the show and got this tiny little bike for O to ride (he fell off, he said it was just acting), then O helped the clown ride the bike. Teeheehee, it was very funny, Jack's eyes were glued to the stage.
Also on Thursday my Aunt Diane and Uncle Paul arrived from Sydney. They came up for the triathlon that was on at Yeppoon on the weekend. It is soooooooo nice to see them. They came over on Thursday night do some stuff on the computer and then Diane showed me all the photos from their trip to Europe. The architecture and sculptures and murals and things are just awesome, absolutely breathtaking.
On Saturday night, Coach Grice had organised for the kids to play a little exhibition game during half time at the local soccer match. Jack was hilarious. He ran around the field, not really doing much at all, just running, he decided he wanted to be goalie and went and stood watch over a goal, unfortunately it was a spare net that was off to the side, not even part of the game he was in and then he went and found a spare ball off the field and brought that in to play as well so there were two balls on the field. He had fun, that's the important thing + there was a jumping castle. What more could a four year old ask for, running around kicking a ball with friends and then a jumping castle, perfect way to spend a Saturday night.
So after Jack's soccer on Sunday morning we headed down to the coast to watch the triathlon. We didn't get there until lunchtime so they were already on the run leg. It's incredible to think that people can push their bodies to such extremes. Five or six hours of constant exercise, I just cannot imagine how that would feel. And look at Paul, over five hours of swimming, cycling and running and he can still manage a smile on his final pass by. Amazing.Here's our motley crew, my Mum, my Grandma & Grandad, my Aunt Diane and my Uncle Rob and down the front, Jack (of course) and Paul recovering on the grass.After the race we headed back to the beach house and then down to the beach for a bit of a splash. It was a bit windy and a wee bit chilly, not that Jack minded though. We got down there and he ran down to the end of the beach where there were a group of kids and then right down the other end of the beach and then we came back to the middle and he splashed and dug and yelled and kicked and ran around until the cold finally got the better of him.He was so funny. He would stand in the shallows, fighting the waves as the came in and screaming out at the ocean, "You want a piece of me". He's been using that phrase a bit lately, not sure where he picked that up from. Then he was yelling something about "by the power of ????", don't know where that has come from either, maybe the Power Rangers. It was so funny to watch.Monday was back to the norm, work/daycare and then soccer in the afternoon. Today daycare were having a Pirate day!! Perfect for us since Jack had a pirate party this year, we already had a costume and I sent along some of the party paraphernalia we had left over.Jack and I baked a batch of cupcakes and I made up some pirate face toppers. Apparently they were a hit but Jack tells me he missed out so now he wants me to make another batch for him. And lastly here is my entry for last week for the Embellished Idol competition. Unfortunately I havn't made it through to the next round. I might still do some of the challenges though, time permitting.

Well that it from me. I'm off to do my tax, exciting hey.

Multicultural Festival

2009-08-10T23:00:00.004+10:00

Sunday was the annual Multicultural festival held at the Heritage Village. There are still a few of the normal market stalls along with some community info stalls, rides and an array of food from across the world, that's my favourite part. There is also a variety of different music and dance acts in a few locations around the grounds with a main stage near the food area.
Of course Jack and Owen had to have a ride on the camels. It's impossible to get away with Jack not having a ride on the camels, he's practically a pro.Then we stopped to have a look at the animals. Jack fed the Daddy goat and then...he got to nurse the cutest little goat. It is only days old (still has it's umbilical stump). It was just so adorable.We went and checked out the couple of rides and things that they had and Jack had a turn on the jumping castle...before we grabbed ourselves some yummy lunch from the Hare Krishna stall and sat to watch a couple of the acts. We saw some gorgeous little girls doing a dance routine in the most beautiful sari's and little pink fairy wings. We had timed our lunch to catch some tunes by a local band called Busby Marou, we've seen them before at the Australia Day celebrations and they are really good. The schedule was a bit out so we got the added treat of seeing another band from Rocky called The Short Fall. They are great!! I've seen them at one of the local pubs too and they have such a great sound, fantastic vocals.
After lunch we had a look at the rest of the stalls and Jack and I had a ride on some spinning ride before we headed home.
When we got home Jack decided he wanted to do some cooking. He saw an episode of Play School the other week where they made "Raspberry Mousse" so he wanted to make it the other day and because it was cheaper to buy mixed frozen berries he then wanted to make Blackberry Mousse yesterday. It's quite nice actually. It's just mashed up berries mixed with yoghurt and cream and some smashed up meringues mixed through. He only has a few spoonfuls of it but I'm happy to let him make it anyway, anything to try to encourage him to eat fruit.

A random photo of our very relaxed, very pretty but very demanding cat, Kitti-Mae...And my entry for round 2 of Embellished Idol...

It feels good to be back scrapping but my mojo is not really flowing at the moment, I'm sure it's not helped by the cramped messy condition of my scrap room. Should try to get around to clearing it out some time, it's just such a big job.

Anyhoo, better get off to bed.