Hot Chocolate, Check .... Ice Creams, Check

This was us yesterday ....


This is us today ....



What's wrong with this picture??!!

Yesterday was fffffffrrrrreezing! The day before that was even colder.
It was the coldest October day we've had since 1971.
That's before I was born people!!!

And today, the girls are sucking on Paddle Pops in their underwear!! Or at least Lauren is!!

What is going on with Sydney's weather????

Accountability ....

Taylor turned 8 this week so she was baptised on the weekend.

In our religion we baptise children at the age of 8 - we call this the age of accountability.

She was very excited and had a smile from ear to ear.

I managed to get one quick snap of the girls before she was drenched with water!


Is it me or is Ashleigh just a little bit taller??

Can't Decide

whether I like this table from IKEA ....


Or this one .....

I MUCH prefer the white one but it's just a bit too long for the small space we have to put it in.

The top one is a better size but I would REALLY like a white table! I'm still tempted to go for the white one and just live with it being a tiny bit squeezy but I don't think Aaron will go for it!

Oh well. I've got plenty of time to make up my mind. We probably won't get a new table setting until next year anyway!

Bring it on!!

Talk about Fearless Fred! L. is happy to be outside with a dog the size of a small horse!!


I'm sure L. would love to put a saddle and reigns on this dog and ride her!!

This is my sister's dog "Gidget" - a Great Dane!!

And to think this she's going to get bigger!!

S. prefers to be on the other side of the glass!! ME TOO!!!

Been So Busy

so here's a quick catch up.

Spent way too much money at the


SALE today!!

Caught Ash doing this .....


I'm sure there's an easier way to put your school shoes on!!


Started reading this ...



Missing this .... Wish I was there!!

Lauren

I got this tee for Lauren today.


(For those who can't see it it says: "SAW IT, WANTED IT, threw a tantrum, GOT IT)

Says it all really!!!


On another note:

Lauren has this obsession ......
She has to wear one particular pair of jeans with one particular type of top EVERY DAY!!
She throws a tantrum if I try to get her to wear anything else.
I usually try to get her to wear something different each day (I don't want to cater to her obsession) but on the days that I'm tired and can't be bothered I let her wear this ensemble.

The only problem is, the top is long sleeves and now that the weather is warming up she insists on wearing the long sleeves and gets really hot during the day.

Then, last week I went shopping at Target to find that they have brought out the SAME top in SHORT SLEEVES!!!

Problem solved!!

Countdown!

Only 4 more days left of school holidays!

I'm happy.

Ashleigh's sad.

Lauren's indifferent.

Aaron jumps on a plane again tomorrow to go to Perth.
He gets back on Wednesday morning (sigh::)
It's his last trip for the year (hooray!!)

Not much else going on.

I've found a fantastic dining room table at Ikea that I'd LOVE to buy.
It seats 6 - 10 people which is great for when we have the family over.
Our current dining table is showing signs of deterioration.
It's already down one chair - the leg broke off.
Another one's on it's way out - I'd better lay off those cakes!!

I'll have to sell a few more candles before I can afford to buy it.
Mind you, it's not that expensive (justification).

Anyway, we're off to the shops today to buy presents!
We've got 6 birthdays in October!!

Have a great day everyone!!

Somebody Save Me Please!??

This is a conversation I had with my 4 year old daughter (Lauren) this morning. This is typical of the daily conversations we have. It's amazing I haven't been institutionalised yet!!

To set the scene:

I was VERY tired, just woke up, hair was a mess, eyes barely open. I was on auto-pilot buttering some toast for her breakfast and she was on the bench watching me do it. As I dipped my knife in to the butter she asked:

"Is it cheese?"

Me, semi-comatose: "No, it's butter."

Lauren: "Ohhhh, butter ....... Can I lick it?"

Me, still comatose: "No"

L: "Hmmmm ............... can I eat it?" (meaning can she get a spoon and eat it)

Me: "No"

L: "Hmmmm ............................... Can I put my finger in it?"

Me: "NO!!!"

Somebody save me please!!

I've Got The Bug!

The Spring Cleaning Bug!!

OK, so call me obsessive but I cleaned some kitchen appliances today .....


They came up like new!! I can almost use our toaster as a mirror!!

I have a secret weapon for cleaning all my silver appliances - Chux Magic Erasers!!

Yep, and I even used them to clean the OUTSIDE of our microwave!!

Our microwave is nearly 9 years old now. My sister and bro-in-law bought it for us as a wedding present back in Feb 2000! And today it looks brand new!!

I love spring cleaning. I just wish I didn't have kids to interrupt me every 5 minutes
And, I wish there were 3 more of ME to help me do it!!

Anyway, today's cold - yesterday was freakin' boiling hot. Go figure!!

Aaron's working ALL weekend - yes, the long weekend!! Sucks to be HIM!! He's building a stand for the Motor Show next week so it's been early mornings and late nights for him.

Ash loves hew new hair style. From this .....


to this .....

It's so much easier to manage. There's nowhere near as many knots and tantrums in the morning when brushing her hair now!!

Well that's it for now people. Catch ya later!

Help Save the Whales!

Do your bit and help save the whales like us!!!

Go to the Project 551 website and upload your picture.

Family

Wow, how hot was it today?? Phew!

Apparently it was 10 degrees above average!!

Typical! I had a baked dinner planned for dinner and I nearly passed out from the heat of preparing dinner in 35 degree heat!! Oh well, it was delicious and worth the hassle!!

We had my cousin's kids come and visit the other night. Lauren just adores Trinity!

They're so cute to watch playing!!



Well that's it for now. I'm surviving the school holidays ....... so far!

Let's hope tomorrow's not so hot!!

Ahhhhh, Wednesday!!!

I've got the day to myself ..... well at least part of it.

Ashleigh's at my sister's house (she had a sleepover last night) and Lauren's at kindy!!

So today I'm going to the shops. I'm going to look for some new glasses and get Lauren and Ashleigh a new skirt for summer!

I'm loving my new camera. Here is a shot Aaron took AT NIGHT, pitch black with the lights off and it still managed to focus everything!

I don't know why he took a photo of the fridge ????!!?!??

Maybe he was hungry!?

I'm getting my hair cut this afternoon. I'm thinking of getting layers and going for this look:


I'm not 100% sure about the fringe option though!?

I'm getting Ash's hair cut too and I'm hoping she'll let me get it cut in to a bob! I hate brushing her hair - she never brushes it and it gets knots in it so big I have to cut them out!!! Does my head in!

And here's another photo I took of Lauren and Aaron at Darling Harbour on the weekend. I couldn't get Ashleigh to stand still long enough to take her photo - she was too busy chasing seagulls and riding around on her scooter!!


Have a great day everyone!

Yesterday we went into Darling Harbour to say goodbye to Mike and Sheila. The weather was gorgeous.

The girls had a ride on the carousel.


Ashleigh asked: "Did they kill those horses and stick them on poles?" Ahhhh, the pure innocence of it all!! Yes of course they did - purely for your entertainment Ash!!!

Ashleigh chased the seagulls with Flynn.



Lauren wore her butterfly wings THE WHOLE DAY!! All the asians just adored her - they thought she was the biggest attraction at Darling Harbour!


We think she is!!

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

I'm loving this Spring weather! The flowers at the front of our house are starting to bloom gorgeous deep red lily type things! It's beginning to look a lot like Spring!!


I haven't blogged for a while because we've had Aaron's Dad and step-Mum visiting from NZ.

Here's what I've been up to:

YESTERDAY:

I did this:


I volunteered to cover some books for Ashleigh's school library!


got this:


Yep, Aaron finally bought me a new camera!! And it's fantastic!! I've been playing with it and am loving the features AND the 10 mega pixels!!

and TODAY:

We're going in to the city to say goodbye to Poppy and Nanny.

Still sick. Today's probably been one of my worst days so far. The cold is all in my head today. So I feel sleepy and mucusy - yuck!

Tomorrow's going to be a better day! I'm going to wake up feeling 100%. Power of positive thinking!!

Aaron just rang. He's in Alice Springs waiting for a flight to Darwin! He sounds tired. Unfortunately, we're ALL sick at the moment!

I had a great day on Tuesday. Belinda offered to have Lauren for me for the day (lifesaver!!) so I took myself shopping!! It's great to see all the Christmas decorations in the shops. I LOVE Christmas!! YAY!! I even bought myself some nice summery pjs!

Anyway, I'd better go and get Ashleigh to do some homework as we have a pretty busy weekend and she ALWAYS leaves it until the weekend to do it!! Lauren just woke up from a 3 hour sleep - she obviously needed it - poor sick little thing. I just hope she sleeps tonight!!

Funny ....

After a few days of stress and sick children I decided to check out what messages people had left for me on my Facebook Fun Space - just to give me a laugh and to put a smile on my face.

This one was left by my wonderful husband (one of the clean ones) I thought it was funny.

"Donald Rumsfeld briefed the President this morning. He told Bush that Three Brazilian soldiers were killed in Iraq. To everyone's amazement, all of the colour ran from Bush's face, then he collapsed onto his desk, head in hands, visibly shaken, almost wimpering. Finally, he composed himself and asked Rumsfeld, "Just exactly how many is a brazillion?"

Sorry 'Glo' I know you like Bush but I'm sure even you would find this one funny!!

No Ticky Tac Tac's Today

Lauren has this little dance she does. She repeats this over and over again ....

Ticky, tac, tac. Ticky, tac, tac.

Whilst doing star jumps.

But, there are no ticky, tac, tac's today as she has a stomach bug.

She was up vomiting all night last night. Every hour she was throwing up! Today she has a screaming temperature and is still vomiting. The poor kid had it coming out both ends last night. I felt so sorry for her.

Why is it whenever Aaron goes away she seems to get this?? Someone's got it in for me!!

Anyway, here is the family photo we had taken recently. I think it came out quite well.

And look, there's even a hint of a smile on Aaron's face (see, he does love us!)



It's another SPECTACULAR day today. It's supposed to be 28 degrees today!! Aaron said it's about 15 degrees in Perth - and he was so looking forward to the warmer weather he thought he'd be getting in Perth!!

Anyway, I'd better go get a few more things done before Lauren wakes up from her little sleep - goodness knows she needs it - she got no sleep last night - that goes for both of us!!

Random

Boy the computer's slow today!!

Not much is going on here. Ashleigh is home sick still with a throat and ear infection. Apparently she's highly contagious.

Lauren has the beginning signs of it.

And to top it off, Aaron left for Perth, Brisbane and Darwin today. He'll be gone for 12 days! Happy Joy! I just hope I don't get sick!!

I'm halfway through my book - and enjoying it. Man it's a thick book! I don't know exactly how many pages but let's just say LOTS!! I almost get a sore arm holding it up to read!!

The weather is spectacular today. We've had some pretty lousy weather the last week or so but it's another gorgeous day today. Just right I'd say - not too hot, not too cold.

Well that's about it. Not very exciting but I thought I'd blog anyway!

What's on the agenda for today!??!

So yesterday was Father's Day. Unfortunately I felt a bit under the weather so I wasn't able to spoil Aaron as much as I would've liked.

Lucky for me I have a hubby who doesn't care too much about being fussed over.

He got some lovely gifts from the girls and was showered with hugs and kisses. Again, not keen on being fussed over.

So what's on the agenda for today?

Walk Lauren to her Learn 4 Fun class and then walk back home - that's a good 50 minute walk!
Then off to Aldi's to get some essential grocery items.
Then clean the house a bit.
End the day with having Belinda and her family over for dinner (Aaron's sister)

And that's it.

Hope you all have a great week!!

By the way, we didn't forget your birthday Richard - it's on it's way!!

That Thing You Do!

Lauren has this thing where she puts her hand up to her "ear" to listen to something that is off in the distance.

Only, she doesn't quite get her hand to her ear - she kind of cups her cheek .....



It's hilarious to watch. She's such a nut case!!

Ashleigh likes to play along!!



We had Lauren assessed yesterday - just to find out exactly what was wrong with her. She has been diagnosed with a mild intellectual disability.

When the guy told me my heart sank and I'll admit it, I felt a little disappointed. He said that she won't grow out of it (like I have been hoping all these years) but that she will always be a bit slow and that it will only get harder as the years pass as she will become more aware of her inability to do certain things.

You can imagine how heartbreaking that news was but, at the end of the day, I'm happy.

I'm happy because she is such a beautiful little girl who is carefree and a joy to be around (most of the time).

I'm happy because I know she has been sent to a family who will love her unconditionally.

I'm happy because she makes us ALL laugh every day!

I'm happy because we can all learn to have patience.

I'm happy because I love a challenge.

I'm happy because ....

SHE'S happy.

And that's all that matters right!??!

So, there's more Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Early Intervention on the agenda for next year!!

With that said, I'm off to get some housework done and sit down and read my book! Aaron's got Lauren for a couple of hours so I'm going to take advantage of it!

Great weather for reading a book - it's cold and wet!! What's with this weather - beautiful one day, miserable the next!?!

Spring is in the air!!

Well yesterday was the first day of Spring and it didn't disappoint!!

The weather was fantastic. It was warm and there was a soft breeze blowing the wonderful fragrance of nearby jasmine into our backyard.

I was able to do a couple of loads of washing - perfect weather for drying clothes on the line!

I went for a walk and did some shopping.

I'm still a little disappointed I've only managed to lose 2 kilos but I'm sticking to it!! Summer's just around the corner!

Lauren and I made some fantastic tasting cupcakes! Thanks for the recipe B! So simple and yet so tasty! Maybe that's why I've only lost 2kg! Mind you, I only ate ONE because I HAD to see what they were like!!!


Notice Lauren has stripped down to just a singlet. That's how warm the weather was - lovely!

I borrowed a friend's copy of the book "Breaking Dawn".


It's the last book in the series I'm reading. I started reading it last night. So far so good.

The day finished with Lauren lying on the kitchen floor watching Aaron and I make dinner.



It all got a bit too much for her in the end!

Murphy's Law

On Friday night Aaron was working until about 2am Saturday morning so I sat down and watched a really good show on tv - The Count of Monte Cristo. I've never seen it before and I really enjoyed it.

About 15 minutes after the movie finished (about 11.30pm) I closed my eyes and started to doze off when all of a sudden I heard Lauren walking towards our bedroom coughing and crying.

When she reached me she was wheezing and she was having a really hard time breathing. She has suffered from mild asthma before but only when she's had a chest infection - she's never had an asthma attack just out of the blue. I was so scared I didn't know what to do. I'd just been through this with my niece a couple of months ago and here I was faced with the same situation with my baby girl and since Aaron was at work I was having a hard time working out what I should do.

First of all I thought I'd take her into the bathroom and turn on a hot shower and let her breathe the steam but then I wasn't sure if that would work. Then I thought I'd have to wake up poor Ashleigh and put them both in the car (in the freezing cold mind you) and take her to the hospital. But then I remembered that I had some left over liquid ventalin capsule things - only problem was, I didn't have a nebuliser.

A good friend of mine has a nebuliser but I didn't really want to call her at midnight - especially to ask her if SHE could bring it to ME because Ashleigh was fast asleep in bed and I thought it would be difficult getting a child into the car who was having an asthma attack and waking up Ash to drag her out in the freezing cold at midnight.

But then I remembered the last time I borrowed it from her she gladly lent it to me and said "Call me anytime if you need to borrow it. Even if you need it in the middle of the night". So out of desperation I did just that. Luckily her hubby was still awake (thanks M) and he answered her mobile (I didn't want to call her home phone and wake up her kids).

Without hesitation he brought it around and I managed to get Lauren to inhale the ventolin and within minutes her breathing stabilised.

I am so grateful to have friends who I can call on whenever, wherever. I don't know what I would have done without her, thanks S.

So guess what I'm looking at buying this week!?? Yep, you guessed it - a nebuliser!! Just in case this happens again.

But tell me, why is it these things ALWAYS seem to happen in the middle of the bl#%dy night AND when your husband's not home!!??

O Christmas Tree .....

So here is my first project for Christmas this year .....



Christmas tree place cards.

As it is Jodie's turn (my sister) to have Christmas Eve at her place this year I'm not 100% sure where I'll use them but Ash and I had fun making them!!

I've still got to make the table runner (I'm looking forward to this project) - I just haven't had a chance to get to Spotlight to buy the fabric!! As I tend to go for the gold, pink and green colours at Christmas I'll have to find something along those lines!

I walked into the Reject Shop the a couple of days ago and they already have Christmas wrapping paper and cards!!

I guess I'm not the only one starting Christmas preparations early this year!!

We have a house guest at the moment. A friend of ours from Perth is staying with us until Monday so the girls get to share a bedroom for the next few nights.


Last night was their first night sharing the room and they both fell asleep REALLY quickly. This surprised me because I thought they'd be too busy talking and giggling all night but Lauren was asleep within half an hour of putting her to bed and Ashleigh wasn't too far behind her! Maybe I should leave them together for a while!!!

We're off to Wollongong tomorrow for a kid's birthday party! I hope it's good weather!!

I hope you all have a great weekend!!

You Can't Have Fun Without Mess!!

This is what we've been up to today ....





Ash and Taylor having fun with glitter and glue!! You shoulda seen the mess!!

Lauren - having fun on her own.


Now we're off to Mum's for her birthday dinner!!

That's it!! Bye for now!

Clever Kid!

I walked into Lauren's bedroom the other day and I found this sitting on her toy box ....


Can anyone guess what it is??

Here's an explanation:

Ashleigh has her own computer in her bedroom now - so she can do her educational games without clogging up our computer!

She thought that it was a bit unfair that Lauren didn't have her own computer too so she made her one - a laptop made out of paper!!

Genius I tell ya!! This kid comes out with the most amazing things sometimes!!

I thought it was so cute!!

Well that's it for today!

By the way, my absolute FAVE song at the moment - I'm yours by Jason Mraz!!! LOVE IT!!

Saturday is a special day

We've had a very busy day today.

The day started with a trip to Parklea Markets.

Ashleigh got her wish .....


She went to the bank yesterday and took out the rest of the money she needed to buy this sari and Daddy even managed to negotiate the price down so she could afford to buy some matching bangles.

They even threw in one of those decorative dot things they put on their forehead for FREE (of course that's the technical name they give them!)


Lauren got one too - not that she's even remotely interested in having a sticker on her forehead!!

Then at lunch time we went and had some family photos taken - FINALLY. The last time we had family photos taken was in 2002 - before Lauren was born!! I hope they turn out OK. It's impossible getting Aaron to sit for photos but he did it regardless which is great!

Then I went to a baby shower this afternoon for a friend from church.

So that's it for today.

Thief in the Making ...

As you know, Ashleigh has been desperately saving her pennies to buy herself a sari (indian dress type thing). Nanny and Poppy were very generous and gave Ashleigh some gold coins in her bid to get more money to buy the dress and she very carefully placed it on her dressing table.

Tonight when she got in to bed she screamed out "WHO STOLE MY MONEY!?!?" I went in to her room to see what the problem was and noticed that all of her nicely stacked gold coins were missing. We searched everywhere thinking they may have fallen off but they were nowhere to be found. I asked Aaron if he had taken them, thinking they were change from her lunch order but he hadn't taken it.

Then I snuck in to Lauren's room and I thought I'd have a look in her piggy bank. I knew roughly how much money she had in there previously as she only had about two gold coins. And there, in all their glory, I found Ashleigh's 6 gold coins (plus the two that actually were Lauren's).

I then took them in to Ashleigh and told her I had found them. I didn't tell her WHERE I'd found them, just that I'd found them. I couldn't deal with the screaming and yelling and gnashing of teeth!

I can just imagine Lauren strolling in to Ashleigh's room seeing the gold coins on her dressing table, picking them up (with a huge smile on her face), taking them in to her room and depositing them one by one into her piggy bank.

So there you have it - we have a thief in the making!! Little, quiet, innocent Lauren!!!


ANOTHER FUNNY ....

I was driving Ashleigh home from gymnastics this afternoon and she asked me:

"Mum, is there food in the ocean?"

I answered: "Of course there is".

Ash: "What?"

Me: "Fish and prawns and octopus ...."

Ash: "What about chips?"

She wanted to make sure there was food in the ocean in case she turns in to a mermaid! She was a little disappointed when she found out there were no chips!!

Random ......

So we ended up not having Cooper for the weekend. The poor dog had a bowel problem. I'm kinda glad he got the problem on the Friday night before they left otherwise I would have a poopin' dog all weekend which would not have gone down well!! I'm the one who has to clean it up!

We were at Parklea Markets on the weekend getting fruit and vege and to Ashleigh's absolute joy and astonishment we walked past an Indian clothing stall! She was so excited when she found the perfect sari for herself - she tried it on and it looked fantastic!! She fell in love with it as soon as she saw it but being the horrible mother that I am I made her wait to get it this Saturday. I wanted her to understand that you can't always get things when you want them. I told her we had to go to her bank and get out her money to pay for it next week. So we're off to Parklea markets again on the weekend!! She's so happy! I'll post photos!

It's been a pretty sad week for us this past week. We've been to two funerals in one week.

I don't know if things are getting tougher or if I'm just more aware of things now that I'm older but it seems that so many people I know have some sort of cancer or illness. It's a little scary to be honest but I try not to think about it too much. It makes you realise your own mortality and how short our life really is. I never feel like I'm doing enough!!

On a happier note, tomorrow is Wednesday - Lauren dreads it but I rejoice it!

I really look forward to my Wednesday's. It's the one day in the week that I have no kids and I usually try to cram everything in:

Housework
Shopping - Lauren hates shopping so it's much easier to do it without her
Family History
Beauty appointments
Write out my dinner schedule for the week, and
RELAX!!!

I sometimes even get a chance to SIT DOWN and eat lunch instead of eating it at the kitchen bench whilst doing the dishes and feeding Lauren and folding clothes and opening mail and organising dinner and answering phones ......... the list goes on!

On the agenda for tomorrow:

8.40am - drop Ash at school
8.55am - drop Lauren at kindy
9.10am - go to Medicare at Castle Hill
11am - Beautician
12pm - Rouse Hill Shops to buy something for Nana and my best friend in Melbourne and post them.
1pm - Come home and do some housework
2.30pm - go and pick up Lauren at kindy then Ash from school

So as unexciting as it sounds at least I'm KID FREE!!

What have you got planned???

Bollywood Obsession

Ashleigh has a new obsession ....



It's no longer mermaids (at least not this month).

She wants to walk around in a sari and dance her way through life!

But do you think I can find a child size sari anywhere!? It's impossible. The only one I could find was one from America for $99!! But I'm not about to spend that kind of money on something that she will grow out of anyway!
I think I'm going to have to get creative and sew one for her!!

There's not much happening with us at the moment.

The most exciting thing happening this weekend is we're dogsitting for a friend of ours.
The dog's name is Cooper and he's a little shit zhu cross king cavalier spaniel.
Aaron's not happy about it but he's going to be working the whole weekend anyway!
I'll take photos! He's a cute little thing!
Hopefully Aaron will fall in love with it and want to get a dog.
Mind you, I'm not ready for a dog just yet - maybe when Lauren's at school in 2010!

I've decided to be SUPER ORGANISED and start getting ready for Christmas now! I'll take photos of the little projects I do over the coming weeks and hopefully inspire some of you out there to do the same! Be organised that is!!

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great weekend!! I plan to!