Post Christmas Celebrations!!

Christmas Night we received this little ray of sunshine:




His name is Toby and he has fitted in nicely with our family. The girls were more excited about dogsitting Toby than their Christmas presents!! Ash has fallen in love with him.

Then last week ....

The terrible two had a sleep over!!



On Monday ....

We spent some time with the Hasletts as we didn't get a chance to see them on Christmas Day. Look at this gorgeous bunch of kids!!

On Tuesday ....

The girls and I braved the crowds and headed up to the shops.
We got a parking spot right near the entrance!
We had sushi for lunch and then decided to go to the movies while we were there.
We saw "Megamind".
I was a little disappointed, Ash loved it and Lauren slept through half of it!
Then the girls had a sleepover at their cousins house and Aaron and I went to dinner with friends - then back to their house for games! Had a great night!

Today ....

Babysat the girls and received two more little bundles of joy - Rekki (the yorky) and Beau (the white fluff ball with Lauren). We now have three dogs and the girls are loving it! Liv and Soph shared in the joy!

I have to say Rekki is my favourite!!

An Answer to Prayer

It's amazing how our prayers are answered.
Sometimes the answer comes in the most subtle of ways.

Yesterday I said a prayer that I would be able to better understand our daughter and know how to deal with her difficult personality.

Later on that day, while I was at work, I was talking to a lady who also has a daughter around the same age and she mentioned that she had similar problems with her daughter - her response put my mind at ease and helped me better understand how to deal with situations that arise with my own child.

I later realised that this was the answer to my prayers. That lady's advice helped me know what to do and put things into perspective for me.

Is It Bedtime Yet?!?!?

Having a bad day today.
I'm about ready to strangle a child!

I thought kids were supposed to get easier the older they get!?
I couldn't be more wrong!

Let's hope tomorrow's a better day!

It's a Dog's Life!

We got some very exciting news yesterday ...


We will be taking care of these two little gems for a week after Christmas:



Their names are Beau and Rekki.
The girls will get to have one dog each which I'm sure they will love!!

Sherwood On Parade

Last week the girls had their school concert - Sherwood On Parade.
They both did such a great job.

Lauren danced in two dances - she danced in the mainstream kindy class and the Support Unit class dance. She did such a great job! Everybody commented on how well she did. They all said she was the best little dancer on stage! I think she was too!

Ash also danced in two dances. She did a fabulous job. She wasn't shy at all and she was shaking her tail feather like nobody's business!

I was so proud of them both! Here they are in their outfits:

Lauren danced to Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows!

And here she is again in her Police outfit - she danced to The Heat Is On:

Ashleigh was the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland - hence the cat pose!

You Wish!!

This morning I asked Ashleigh to turn off the tv.
She did it straight away without arguing with me - even though her favourite show was on.
Then I asked her to get dressed - again, she did it straight away with no complaints.
Then when she was eating breakfast she got up to get herself a drink and while she was at it she grabbed two cups and poured her sister a drink as well - without having to be asked!

I turned to her and said "OK, who are you and what have you done with my daughter?".

She looked at me enquiringly. I explained that what I meant by that was, she was being so nice this morning (when normally she's miserable first thing in the morning) and that it was like somebody had replaced my normal Ashleigh with a happy, nice one.

Her response was ...

"You wish!!"

Smelly Flower!

Last night we decided to go for a walk after dinner.
Along the way we came across some gorgeous white daisies.
The girls picked one each to take home.





When we got home Lauren went straight to the bathroom.
I didn't think much of it until she came out with a very wet flower.
She said "the flower stank Mummy so I washed it with soap and now it smells pretty!"

Simple solution to a smelly problem!!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas....

Well, it's that time of year again and on the weekend (Sunday to be exact) we put up our Christmas tree!
It was just like every other year, the girls and I decorated the tree whilst Aaron looked on with disinterest but that's OK ... we do a much better job without him!







This year I added some huge Christmas baubles out the front of our house to welcome visitors as they come to our home as well as a big star in our front window to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas!




And this is the latest addition to my Christmas collection. My Jim Shore Santa! He sits on our piano and I think he's gorgeous!!
I try to keep with the whole Birth of Christ theme at Christmas and keep decorations of santa to a minimum so you will notice this santa has the nativity on his belly.


Aaron even put up some lights on the outside of the house - without complaining! He's finally coming around!! Who cares about the electricity bill - right?!!?!

In other news, one of our swordtail fish in the front pond had babies last week!

I know it's hard to see but the baby is right down the bottom of the bowl - the little orange speck!

It's one of the few breeds of fish that give birth to live young!

We have lots of baby fish swimming around our pond and they're so cute.

Ash managed to catch 5 and have put them in a bowl in her bedroom.

It's interesting to see them grow! They started off almost see-through and now they are turning gold and getting bigger and bigger every day!!

We noticed that now one of the other females in the pond is pregnant and will be ready to give birth shortly. We are going to have more fish than we know what to do with!