I walked into Ashleigh's room this morning after dropping her off at school to find this .....
























Notice what Lauren's wearing today ......

























She often wants to match Lauren. It's funny. I'm sure one day she will grow out of it and may even be appalled at the thought of wearing the same clothes as her little sister!!

Funny!

Have a great day!

Birthday Party!

Lauren was invited to a PINK birthday party on the weekend!

I just had to post some photos.
It was a fairytale birthday party.

How cute are these pics. Every little girls dream come true:




Even the food was cute!!


Happy Birthday Layne!

P.S - I hope you don't mind me "borrowing" some of your pics S.

Lauren is sick.

No sleep.

No chocolate.

Very tired.

All in all, everything's just dandy! hmmmmmm :(

Here's optimism for you ...



Lauren thought she'd be able to reach the Chuppa Chups easy ......

There's something wrong with this picture - can you tell what it is??!!





I like it!!!!

We just got back from a night in Wollongong at our friend's house.

We had a great day at the beach today. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera so I was unable to take photos of the girls chasing the seagulls and having fun.

Lauren had a nasty tumble down the stairs at our friend's house only 5 minutes after we arrived there yesterday.

It has left a horrible bruise and cut on her chin. I think it may leave a scar. Needless to say she screamed crying and took a good hour to calm down after it.




Well that's it for now. I've had a migraine for 3 days now and still have a bit of a headache so I'm off to bed early tonight.

Family Photo

I was sent this photo today from an uncle.

It's a picture of my grandfather (Mum's Dad) Eric Bailey as best man (I assume) and his brother Walter Bailey Jnr as the groom and his wife Ina Tarbert on their wedding day - 24 April 1937. Not sure who the bridesmaid is (looks like a man in drag if you ask me).

My grandfather almost looks like a vampire! Or does it just look that way to me because I'm currently reading a book about vampires and I have vampires on the mind!?

I just LOVE old photos. I've been wanting to put a whole bunch of photos into frames and hang them on a wall somewhere. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I think I need some inspiration on how to do it.

I was talking to a friend today and we were talking about how
Ignorance is Bliss!

Gone are the days when I can do 4 loads of washing and wash the car on the same day
and not have to worry about water restrictions.

Gone are the days when I can have all the lights on in the house and not have to
worry about the consequences it has on the environment.

Gone are the days when I can just throw something in the bin and not have to worry about
the impact every little piece of rubbish is having on land fill.

I almost feel guilty every time I clean up - and I used to love cleaning up so much.

It's no wonder we're a stressed out bunch of people!

Well that's it for now peeps.

It Makes You Wonder ...

I'm so happy!

We FINALLY got broadband internet access at home on Thursday this week. I wonder how we ever survived without it!

We've been on wireless for about 6 months and it was nothing but trouble. It was slow, EXPENSIVE and would often cut out halfway through my internet browsing!

It drove me nuts. I guess the biggest thing was the expense! Wireless is expensive!!

So now our internet is fast, cheap(er) and I will never take it for granted ever again!

Our weekend was a bit of a non-event. We didn't do much. There's not much you can do these days that doesn't cost a lot of money. We can't even go for drives to the Mountains because of the cost of petrol!

So we just hung around the house.

Aaron did a FANTASTIC job of vacuuming and mopping the floors (he always does a much better job than I do - probably because he doesn't have to do it as often as I do) while I took the girls shopping.

The only way it should be, am I right!???!

Not much planned for this week.

I'm going painting at a friend's house on Wednesday - to finish a canvas I'm painting for my good friend of mine. It's her birthday on Friday so I decided to paint her a canvas for her birthday.

We're off to Wollongong on Friday night for her birthday which will be great. I'm looking forward to getting away again!

Yesterday Lauren was bugging me to help her with something she was doing. I was in the middle of making a cake so I said to her "Wait a minute, I'm busy".

She replied .....

"I'm busy too!"

I had to laugh. For those of you who know Lauren - she is a girl of few words so I was actually quite surprised to get a response from her - let alone a cheeky one!!

On a side note ...... I went to see Sex And The City this week - and LOVED it! There were a few "iffy" scenes in it, but in general a good chick flick! Of course I saw it with a bunch of girl friends and not Aaron.

Well that's it from me for now.

Hope you all have a great week.

P.S - I lay-by'd a new camera this week. shhhhhhh. It's a secret - don't tell Aaron!!

P.P.S - I'm VERY excited!!!

Aaaahhchoo!

I'm not feeling great today. I couldn't escape the dreaded cold after all. Just when I was beginning to think I'd dodged it this time around!

Oh well, at least we're a sharing family.

Since I'm feeling pretty miserable I just thought I'd post some more photos from Ash's birthday.

Ash's new bed spread. Notice the mermaid theme. She's obssessed with mermaids!

All of us on our way back to the starting point of our horse riding journey.

Ashleigh with all of her pressies this year. She can't wait to go shopping with her gift cards!

"Best Birthday Ever!!"

Well it's official, Ashleigh had "The Best Birthday Ever!!" this year.

Yesterday we had all the family over for a night of games (thanks to Georgia), food and CAKE!!!

And of course OPENING PRESENTS ......

And then today, the ultimate (at least for Ashleigh and the other kids) - HORSE RIDING!!!

Ashleigh was so excited we got to go horse riding today. The rain held off all day for us which was great.

Olivia preferred not to be in the photo.

Luckily I got to lead Lauren on her shetland pony "Snowy" - he was easy to manage.

Ashleigh rode "Mikey". She was sooooo excited. She nearly peed her pants with excitement!!"

Georgia wasn't too sure at first but by the end of it she didn't want to get off!

Olivia was a complete natural!

Taylor was very comfortable on her horse!

I didn't get a photo of Harrison but he seemed to really enjoy himself too!!

As for me, I'm NOT a horse person so I preferred to go via two legs and not four!

As you can see, all the adults took the kids for an hour long horse ride through the bush.

The kids had fun while the adults got a great workout!!!

So another birthday for Ash is over and although she didn't get her NINTENDO DS, the horses were a great substitute!!

What Happened to May????

I can't believe it's June already! What happened to May? This year is just flying by!

I've been busy this week trying to organise Ashleigh's birthday. I've booked her in to go
horse riding with her cousins on Monday and she CAN'T WAIT!! I just hope the weather
holds out. It's done nothing but rain here the last week so I hope it clears up for Monday.
If it doesn't then we will have to take her to the movies to see Narnia instead.

At least I have a back up plan!

We went to Wollongong on the weekend for a baby blessing. It's always great to go down to
Wollongong. It's so pretty down there. I should have taken my camera with me but I really
hate my camera - every second photo is out of focus and since it's been dropped a couple of times
it hasn't been the same. I am dying to get a new one. I'll have to start saving my pennies!!

Ashleigh had a play at her friend's house after school yesterday and when they dropped her
back home she turned to the mother and said "Thank you for having me Mrs Arraiza".

You could have knocked me over with a feather!! I tell her all the time to say thank you for
having me but I always have to prompt her to say it and this time she said it on her own. I was
so proud of her! Maybe I'm not such a bad mother after all.

She's growing up so fast. I look at her in amazement - it feels like only yesterday she was a
baby in my arms.

I must confess, I did a bad thing this morning .....

This morning Lauren screamed out "stop kicking me Ashleigh". So I turned to Ashleigh and
asked her if she'd kicked Lauren.

"Ashleigh, did you kick Lauren?"
"No"

"Are you sure you didn't kick her?"
"I'm sure"

"Really?"
"yes"

So then I said "You know, Heavenly Father knows if you're lying and all I have to do is pray to him and ask him if you're telling me the truth".

With that she confsessed that she had kicked Lauren and that she was sorry.

Now I'm not sure if should have abused her innocence like that but I have to tell ya It Worked!

At least she has faith that there is a God and that he answers prayers.

Give Us a Kiss!

It's the face only a mother can love!




As you can see, Lauren got into my lipstick the other day. Very attractive!!

I'm Grumpy Now.

Lauren has started this new thing where she stands or sits with her arms crossed and says

"I'm grumpy now".

Along with this expression .....



I can't help but laugh when she does it. She's such a cack!


I've been cleaning walls today. Since we moved into this rental property the walls have been driving me nuts. They are so dirty and the house always feels messy so I started sugar soaping the walls today and they look so much better! I've only done half the house, got the other half to go.

I really want to paint Ashleigh's bedroom too but I'm not sure if I have the confidence to do it on my own - I know Aaron won't be keen to help me do it. He is totally against enhancing houses we rent - he figures, it's not our house so why make it look better. Forget the fact that we have to live in it.

I'll feel so much better if I paint her room. There are patches on the walls in all different colours it looks horrible. I'm all for consistency!

Anyway, I'd better go and get dinner started. Lauren's going to start complaining soon and I don't want to make her GRUMPY NOW!!!

Happy Birthday!

I had a REALLY good birthday this year.

Lots of nice pressies.

And a great night out with the family.

Aaron did an excellent job organising my birthday dinner - especially as he had to do it all from Perth!

We had all the family including the Bailey's there which was REALLY nice! We don't get together often so it was great to have everybody there to help me celebrate my birthday.

It all started with Aaron arriving home from Perth the night before (Thursday). He had been away for 5 days and I was REALLY missing him so it was nice to have him home.

Then on Friday I got to sleep in while Aaron got Ash ready for school. The girls came in to my room and wished me a happy birthday and gave me their birthday pressies which were magazines and make up.

Aaron then took me shopping for my birthday present (a colour printer) up at the shops but unfortunately they didn't have any in stock. But that's OK, we had lunch at a lovely cafe and had a really nice day together with Lauren.

When we got home from the shops I found this at the front door .....


They were from a good friend of mine Emma and Adam! Thanks guys! I love lillies!!

Then we had dinner at Tasty Thai - my favourite Thai restaurant - and it's local too so we didn't have to go too far.

After dinner everyone came back to our house for cake and ice cream.



Overall, I had a great day - one I will remember for a long time. Thanks to my wonderful hubby for organising everything. He really outdid himself.

Oh and I also got to go to Ikea on Saturday and we managed to find a shop that sold the colour printer I wanted - and they had it in stock!!! YIPEE!!

Interesting Day .....

I had a very interesting day today.

I had to babysit Georgia today as she wasn't feeling well and Jodie had to work. She didn't need much babysitting. She sat on the lounge most of the day - easiest babysitting job ever!!

She gave me a bit of a scare this afternoon though. At about 4pm she started breathing really shallow and started crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said the 4 words you never want to hear from a sick child "I can't breathe properly". She wasn't getting much air in to her lungs so I ran next door, asked our neighbour to look after Lauren and Ash while I raced her to the doctor.

As it turned out she had a severe asthma attack. I have never been so scared in my life! It's really scary when a kid has an asthma attack - especially when you have NO IDEA what you're doing!!

On a happier note, here is a picture of my latest creation ......




I am quite happy with it. Aaron likes it too which is always a good thing!


Anyway, I hope you all have a great night! Aaron's working tonight so I'm going to put the girls to bed soon and sit down to watch Lost!!

Hurricane Katrina

These pictures were taken by a man in Magee, MS where the eye of the storm passed thru - what an experience.

Magee is 150 miles North of Waveland, Mississippi where the Hurricane hit.

Pretty incredible. It's amazing what mother nature can unleash ...





Have a great week!

And enjoy the nice (safe) weather!!

Productive Day!

I had a good day today.

Got a lot done!

I'm nearly finished the canvas I'm painting using greens. I'm loving it so far. I'll post photos when I'm done.

Well it's 8.20pm and both the girls are wide awake and Aaron's working late. I hate nights like this. I just want them to go to bed so I can relax and unwind. Lauren is refusing to go to her own bed to fall asleep. Instead she prefers to fall asleep on the lounge in front of the tv. I think that's why my back is killing me - having to carry to her bed once she's asleep!

I'm loving the new Madonna / Kanye West song "On The Beat Goes". I'm listening to it at the moment. It's so groovy! The girls love dancing to it too!

Anyway, I'm off to put the girls to bed and relax!

Have a great night everyone!

Thought ......

I saw a quote today that I found rather profound .....

"Every child is gifted. Some just open their packages sooner than others."

I'm always concerned that my kids aren't as gifted as other kids so this meant a lot to me. I think I worry too much and I should let them live their life - as long as they grow up happy that's the MOST IMPORTANT thing!


Here are some more photos of the girls.

From this ......




TO THIS ......



"Just you wait 'til we get home!!!!"

Sisterly Love

Ashleigh's back at school today and we're back into a day of routine and order.

What have I got planned for today? Not much .....

Vacuum
Mop
Drop off a parcel to a friend
Grocery Shopping

So like I said, not much, well at least nothing exciting.

Life is good. Got some more photos of the girls. I will post them at the end of this entry.

So what have you got planned for today???

Take care everyone!





"I'm a bit over this now Mum!"

Schnitzel Anyone?

So last night we tried a new restaurant. Very out of the box for me - I am a bit of a creature of habit and don't tend to try new things. Lucky for me I married my polar opposite and we stumbled on to an amazing restaurant - The Austrian Schnitzel House in Gladesville!!

The food was fantastic and the atmosphere was very authentic. Aaron had a hard time understanding the waiter at first but after I translated he was fine. They had very strong German accents! We went with some friends of ours and we had such a good time.

I had the Vienna Schnitzel with a gorgeous mushroom sauce with sauteed roast potatoes!!! YUMMMM! Hungry anyone?

Then for dessert (yes, my husband actually bought dessert for me this time!) I had the most creamy ice cream with homemade chocolate fudge sauce with strawberries and chocolate wafer sticks! I would have had the home made apple strudel but I was too full after my massive main meal!

So there you go. For those of you who love Schnitzel's you gotta try this place!

Not much going on at the moment. Aaron actually had a day off yesterday so we got to spend the day together.

Not that the weather was all that great but at least we got to spend time together.

We were going to go to Featherdale Wildlife Park but decided not to when the rain started pouring!

We haven't really done too much these holidays. That was my plan. I didn't want to make the holidays too exciting for Ashleigh because she wouldn't want to go back to school!

Lauren's been exhausted having a play mate every day of the week ......


Notice the socks! Cute hey!? It's so hard to find knee high socks for kids!!!

We are still toilet training her and she refuses to wear pants - she wants to wear a "pretty skirt" so to keep her legs warm I have to put long socks on her as she struggles to pull stockings down to go to the toilet.

Anyway, like I said not much going on at the moment. The girls have been playing nicely together. They love the Sylvanian Family animals that Grandma bought them in NZ!!


I hope you all have a great week. Bye for now!

P.S - we went and had a look at the new Hyundai I30 yesterday - me likey!!!