Back To Normal

Yesterday I took the Christmas tree down.

Now the house is back to normal (well, almost).

I also got Lauren's hair cut.


I think it looks cute.
Nice and cool for summer - especially the 40 degree days we've been having.

Last year Ashleigh brought home a letter she had written in class to Santa Claus.
When I read it I was shocked (happy shocked).

It reads:

"Dear Santa,
My name is Ash. Can you give the poor people some money plese santa and toys for them."


What a good girl. So some of those lessons about being charitable have paid off!!

That's it for now.

WW

I'm back to Weight Watchers tomorrow.

Starting weight is 8kg over the top spectrum of my healthy weight range so I need to lose at least 10kg to feel healthy again!

Goodbye junk food, chocolate and sitting on the lounge.

Hello counting points, fresh fruit and vege and lots of exercise! Although, I think I'll wait until the temperature gets below 41 degrees before I start walking again.

Going Private Now

I have decided to go private this week so you will need to get permission to read my blog by the end of the week.

It's simple, just send me an email (melbrown_75@hotmail.com) telling me you would like to continue reading my blog (except for those who have already done so) and I will send you an email back giving you access to read my blog.

New Year's Resolutions

I don't usually make New Year's Resolutions because I never follow through with them and just get disappointed.

But this year I've decided to make a few and hopefully follow through with them.

So here's my list:

Enjoy my last year at home with Lauren
Lose weight (at least 10kgs).
Repaint Lauren's tall boy.
Save for a family holiday.
Spend more "quality" time with the girls and Aaron.
Exercise more
Have FHE every week
Cook more often
Eat less take away.
Pay off credit card.
Spend less (waaaay less)
Save more
Gossip less.
Love more
Do something that scares me, at least once.
Try something new.
Laugh more.
Don't take things for granted

Nothing too challenging, just small changes that will hopefully make a difference.

What's your New Year's Resolutions?

Happy New Year!!

As I look back on 2008 I can't help but feel a little overwhelmed.

It was a year of accomplishments, loss, triumphs and trying new things:

Amanda and Richard got married.
I found my first grey hair. Lucky for me I haven't found one since!
Lauren was toilet trained.
Aaron travelled a lot.
Lots of illness for all of us.
I started and finished the Twilight series of books.
I tried accupuncture for the first time and was pleasantly surprised.
Sadly, we've lost friends from cancer.
We got Lauren assessed and was given a diagnosis on her disability.
Mike and Sheila came to visit.
And I got a new dining room table and chairs!!

I'm excited about what 2009 will bring and can't wait to get a new car (hint, hint Aaron!)

I hope 2009 brings everyone all they hope for and more!!

Christmas 2008

Our Christmas started a few days ago .....

On Tuesday Aaron decided to clean the front driveway


It looks so much better now - who knew the driveway was a terracotta colour and not black!!

Later that day we went to the Fish Markets with T&S.
The girls loved it.
So much to see!

Like this .....


and this .....


and this .....

I took a photo of these prawns because they were the expensive ones - the ones we DIDN'T get.



Aaron in the background choosing a lobster for Christmas Day!!

Then on Christmas Day the girls were so excited.


Ashleigh got her most favoured gift - a Nintendo DS. She must have been a good girl to have gotten this from Santa.


She hasn't stopped playing with it ever since.

Then Aaron's family came over for lunch


And we opened more presents.


On Boxing Day Lauren lost her VERY FIRST TOOTH.


We had a lovely Christmas this year and we hope your Christmas was filled with good memories and happy times like ours.

It continues to amaze me how quickly Christmas comes and goes each year.
Before I know it it'll be Christmas 2009.

I wonder what 2009 will hold for us? Hopefully lots of fun, laughter and good times.

This week we've had Santa come and visit us on the back of a Fire Engine throwing lollies ......



We also went to Carols by Candlelight on Sunday night at the temple.


Then we visited Mum and Dad's old house in Glenhaven and got a bit of a shock at the transformation. The girls loved it!! Ashleigh particularly liked the guy dressed up as Frosty the Snowman who kept following her and playing tricks on her! We spent quite a while walking around "our old house" looking at all the lights!!



And we went to Ikea .....


AND I got the table I REALLY wanted!!

AND it looks great!!

AND - believe it or not, Aaron chose the chair covers!! Go the floral!!

Catch Up.....

This is what we've been up to:

Lauren's Pre-School Christmas Party:



Lauren's 2nd Christmas Party at Homebush:

Loved It! Loved It! Loved It!!!

I wasn't disappointed. The movie was fantastic last night! It did the book justice!!

On another note ....

We were out looking at Christmas Lights on the houses in our street the other night and Lauren turned to me and said "Look Mum, the moon!"

Then 10 seconds later she turned to me again and yelled "Mum, you broke it!"

Looking at her I asked "What did I break?"

Pointing to the sky she replied "THE MOON!"

It was a crescent moon that night so apparently I broke a bit off it!!

I'm off to see this tonight ....



I can't wait.

I loved the book now I get to see the movie!

I hope it lives up to my expectations.

Typical .....

This afternoon I gave Ashleigh and Lauren some chocolate cake for afternoon tea.

I'm usually pretty relaxed about the kids eating - I usually let them eat snacks on the mat in front of the tv but I vacuumed the house today and told them that they had to eat the cake at the table.

I thought this would save me having to vacuum up AGAIN if they dropped crumbs on the floor.
Lauren decided that she'd knock her bowl off the table and of course the cake fell icing first onto the floor!! So, I had to vacuum again AND mop!!

Why do I bother!???

Too Old for TV

Aaron was very excited last night when he saw that 'Back To The Future' was on tv.

He turned to Ashleigh and said "Let's sit and watch this movie together. You know, this used to be my FAVOURITE movie when I was a little boy".

Ashleigh promptly turned to Aaron and said "How could it be? TV wasn't around in the olden days!".

Aaron and I turned to each other and laughed!

We may feel that old but we're not!!

Family

We had some family photos taken on Saturday.

It was a bit of a logistical nightmare with 16 of us but I think they turned out well.

Lauren looks a little miserable in a few of them. She was well and truly over it before it began, but hey, you can't please everybody all of the time!

Here is our little family:


Ash and Lauren:


The "Rimmer" family (me, my brother Todd, my brother Nathan, my sister Jodie, Dad and Mum):


Then there were all the "cousins":


And last but not least, the whole family:

We put the Christmas tree up on Sunday.


We went with red and gold this year. Something a bit different to the usual pink and purple.

Lauren found the big candy cane and proceeded to lick it - just in case all of her wildest dreams had come true - "They really DO make edible candy canes this big!!"


Ashleigh was a little more tame.



It's funny watching the girls. They're both so different. Lauren's the clown (like Aaron) and Ashleigh just sits back and rolls her eyes at some of the things she does (like me).

This is what the place looked like whilst we were putting the decorations up.....


Would someone put some pants on Lauren!!!
It's an impossible task.
The top she has on is NOT a dress but she insists it is and refuses to put pants on!! We call her our little Shirley Temple - short dresses and curly hair!!

Going Private

For those of you who read my blog, I'm thinking of going private. I have been getting some strange people commenting on my blog - complete strangers - so I thought I'd go private to stop every Tom, Dick and Harry being able to read it and follow what's going on in our lives.

So, for those of you who would like to continue being able to read my blog I will need to grant you "permission" to view it.

In order for me to do this I need you to either email me or click on the comments box below and tell me you'd like to be given permission to read my blog.

I won't be doing this for a few weeks just to allow everybody a chance to respond.

Here's to a more private blogging experience!!

Santa Photo

I got in early this year and had the girl's photo taken with Santa on the weekend.


I'm so glad Lauren's past that "scared of Santa" stage!
I don't know what I'm going to do when they get too big to sit on Santa's knee.
It's going to be a sad day when that happens!

Where Did November Go???

I can't believe it's the end of November.

Time needs to slow down because I LOVE this time of year - I want to be able to enjoy it more!!

We're putting up our Christmas decorations on Sunday - can't wait!!
New decorations this year include a garland and some stars for my nativity scene. I'll post photos next time.

I've been so busy. Nothing exciting, just the usual - housework, school stuff, more housework, shopping, painting and spring cleaning.

I found this note on Ashleigh's door yesterday ....


For those who need a translation it reads "Dear Lauren Stay Out Of My Room".
So there you have it! She's been warned!! I like the way she wrote Dear Lauren (very official).

And then, this morning she dressed Lauren like this ....

She begged me to let Lauren go to school with her today. And Lauren was TOTALLY convinced she was going to school with Ashleigh this morning. When I told her she had to stay home with me while Aaron took Ash to school she started crying - she had to go to school too!! She was dressed, ready to go!!

I nearly got Lauren's hair cut today. I'm torn between getting it cut or growing it long. It's getting so long!!


Anyway, that's about it for now. I hope you all have a great day!!

Ummmm, this isn't working ....

I stripped Lauren's clothes off this afternoon to put her in to the bath.
She has a ritual where she goes to the toilet before she gets into the bath.

This afternoon I heard her yell out from the toilet "I need to do WEE WEE MUM!!!"
I didn't understand why she was calling for help because she can go to the loo by herself so I thought I'd go in and investigate.

This is what I found .....



She has obviously been watching her Dad go to the toilet!
She couldn't understand how he did it standing up!!!
I had to laugh!

And earlier today .....

I walked in to the lounge room and found the cat sleeping like this ...




He was actually asleep but woke up when he heard me approach with the camera!

Who sleeps like that - with your legs in the air!???! Stupid cat!!

Well that's it for now.

Now much else going on.

Bye for now.

I'm Beached As Bro

I was walking around my local shops this morning and I saw this in the window:


I laughed out loud.

For those of you who aren't educated to "The Beached Whale" phenomenon this is what you're missing out on:



Of course Aaron found this crazy clip and told everyone he knew all about it.

Now, a retail chain store is selling the t-shirts!! Amazing.

This humour isn't appreciated by everyone, but for those who know New Zealander's, I'm sure you'd find it funny!!

That's it for now!!

Early Start

I'm not good with early starts.

Ashleigh decided to wake up at 5.30 this morning and she thought she'd go and wake up Lauren so she could have some company.

You can imagine how furious I was because today is Lauren's kindy day and she's going to be wrecked!

You know the feeling when you've been woken up out of a deep sleep by rowdy kids and your brain doesn't quite function?
Well, that's what happened to me.
I told Ashleigh I was so furious with her that if she EVER did that again (wake up Lauren that is) I'd .......... cancel Christmas!!
It's the best thing I could come up with at 5.30am!!

Anyway, at least it gives me plenty of time to catch up on housework before the girls go to school and it gives me a chance to blog - something I haven't done for a while!!

I've got no photos to share this time and not much to report on so that's it for now.

Busy Day

We had a very busy day yesterday.

First of all we walked to the local Community Centre for a Family Fun Day!!

There were baby animals .....



These are ALWAYS a hit with the girls.

Then there was face painting .....



The girl did such a good job - we had strangers coming up to us to say how gorgeous Lauren looked.

And they also had a jumping castle.

The girls had such a good time - and it was FREE which is even better!!

Then later that afternoon we had a Halloween Party to go to.
We took our two niece's with us.
It was fantastic but of course, I forgot to take my camera!!

The Haunted House was so scary - even I was a little spooked.
Lauren refused to enter - she chose to go the long way around!!

I did manage to take a photo of us BEFORE we left though.

The saying is true - ugly parents DO have cute kids!!!