Christmas part 2

The girls also gave Peter and I a picnic! A small wicker basket filled with everything we could need for a wine and cheese feast, they even put in glasses and a cheese knife! It was so lovely of them. They made me cry and so did Peter he gave me a gorgeous ring that I ad seen in a catalogue months ago, he remembered the ring, the jeweler, he even sneaked in to my jewelery bx and borrowd a ring to make sure he ordered the right size! Here it is, isn't it gorgeous?? I just love it...

The kiddos were all gone by 12ish so Pete and headed to my dads house for a beautiful lunch, we ate and talked and it was perfect. Such a wonderful day, one of the best christmas days I have.

Best Christmas ever...

Well I am pretty sure it was, I always get a little emotional (ok a LOT emotional) at christmas and usually spend part of the day in tears. But not this year.. everything was fantastic.

Because the children go to their Dads on christmas day we have our special meal on christmas eve. This year Blair and Marni excelled themselves on the food front. We had a fantastic potato salad and some delicious cheesecakes they made. We had 9 people and lots of food crowded around our table, candles lit and carols playing, it was perfect! The only drama was when the apple cider sprayed everywhere drenching Isaac and Marni, the table, the couch and the wall! Thank goodness for scotchguarding is all I can say. W cleaned up after dinner and then moved to the lounge room to watch carols by candlelight, literally , we had candles everywhere and our christmas lights on as well.

Christmas day started much earlier than ever before when Isaac got up at "4.20 something mum" he took his santa sack back to bed and fell asleep with his arm around it, very cute! Keely was up next at 5.30 and we were all up by 5.45 AM!! ugh! The excitement of santa sacks was first, then Isaac and Keely followed a maze of red wool through the house and outside to find the trail ended at a trampoline!!! Great excitement, well I am not sure the (childless) neighbours appreciated the noise at 6am! Then back inside for presents which took forever, I wrap almost everything seperatly and we only open one thing at a time while everyone else watches so it takes a looong time. Laura rang during the opening and we all had a nice long talk to her, she was so chirpy and happy it was much easier than I thought to talk to her, I didn't even cry! A very rare event I can assure you! The presents were finally all unwrapped and some of the mess cleaned up, we all got some great things, I was totally spoilt, the girls gave me a stocking of my own with all sorts of fantastic things inside, my favorite choccies, a DVD and a nighty

The world according to Isaac

Isaac is a funny boy as you would know from reading my blog entries but last week he really amazed me...

We were driving to school and he was chattering away in the back seat - like the wonderful mother I am - I was hanging on his every word. (not)

He said something about having three jobs and I had no idea what he meant so I asked him what jobs?

This is what he said...

"well people get hungry and food is expensive" ok and that is important why I thought...

"When I get married and have kids, they will be hungry, so I will need to have three jobs to pay for food"

okaaaaaaaay my seven year old is worrying about providing for his imaginary future family!

He was so serious about it too... what a kid.

Yesterday he asked me why he can't just have 2 days off for christmas so he can go straight into Grade 2 because he doesn't want to wait... I wonder if he will be so keen in a few years time?

5 more sleeps....

The excitement is building here at Chez Jacki or should that be Jacqui? I have a sudden urge to twirl an imaginary moustache! :) Today we are cleaning out toyboxes to make room for the onslaught of MORE toys the twins are expecting next week... How does so much crap accumulate in the few months since we did a cull for their birthday toys? I am pretty ruthless and cull their junk regularly but somehow the remaining junk multiplies overnight!
I am pleased they are growing up and we can get rid of a lot of stuff they no longer use or want the only problem with that is they NEED and WANT a lot more than I would like!
The most amazing thing is we have discovered Isaac has carpet in his room! Imagine that!

Happy Birthday Peter!

It's Peters birthday today, he is the very grand age of 45! We have just eaten pork chops and baked veggies followed by pavlova with mixed berries... mmmmmmmmmm
Isaac had 3 servings of Pav and wanted more! I then had to try to stuff an over excited little boy on a sugar high into bed... phew I am exhausted!

I cleaned the house today, well some of it anyways, and then picked Blair up from the airport!! Yippeee! she is home to stay, until she goes overseas in April that is... :)

Today was a good day :)

Holidays...

yippeeeedoooohhddaaaaahhhhh!! I am now officially on holidays!! 24 (count them) twenty four lovely days off!! ahhhh so cool to have time off BEFORE christmas this year... now if I were only motivated to DO something instead of vegging in the recliner, coffee and raisin toast at hand. The ferals are cleaning their rooms, well they are supposed to be cleaning their rooms... so far there seems to be much laughing and giggling... hmmmm. Today is the official clean-up-our-revoltingly-messy-house-day but so far not much has been achieved. It's Peters birthday today and Blair is arriving home this afternoon so we should be very busily doing things....
Ahh well a relaxing morning then a mad chaotic rush to clean up after lunch is more my style anyway!

4 out of 5 ain't bad!

Yay! Blair has made the decision to come home to live!! She and her boyfriend Kris have been living in Melbourne and were planning to come home for Christmas anyway, which turned into packing up and coming home to stay until April when they are going overseas. Blair has a transfer with her job and will be working a 10 minute walk from my building! We will be able to have lunch, how fun!
So I will have 4 out of 5 kiddos home... colour me happy!

I talked to Laura last night for over 2 hours, well we all talked she had a long chat with Keely and Isaac before I put them to bed, then we had a good talk about everything, so cool to catch up with her and her life..

Just think this time next year I will ALL 5 chickadees under one roof! Yippeeeeeeeee!!!

passwords...

At work we need 3 passwords and we are prompted to change them regularly.
These 3 passwords cannot be the same.
I have a terrible memory for passwords.
So I am of course on friendly terms with the marvellous people who have to unlock my databases on a regular basis, these amazingly patient people have never once said "Not you again" or "isn't this the third time this month?" They just hit the magic reset button and away I go again... I have always used the kids names or a combination of their names and a number to generate the new passwords, so far so good until Friday when I tried every combination I could think of only to be rejected each time as "too similar to one of the last 20 passwords you have already used" In desperation I started on the cats names... password accepted... PHEW!
For one horrible moment I thought I was going to have to have more kids!!!

Slacky McSlackblogger here

Ahhh I am so slack, I really love to blog and have loads of things to blog about but I just never seem to get motivated. I have to admit I don't like to blog without photos, my favorite blogs are the ones with lots of photos. I sat last night to start and my camera batteries were flat so couldn't upload any pics... sigh.
they are still flat so this will have to do until I get home.
Of course as soon as I have time to log in I forget anything and everything I wanted to write about.

The Melbourne trip was amazing and there is so much to tell about that... maybe I should do a Matt style post and do it day by day.

Christmas is coming and that is so exciting... lots of decorating and shopping to do! I LOVE christmas!

My Dad has been sick in hospital and is now thankfully at home recovering from surgery.

Isaac and Keely has a totally hilarious conversation this morning.

Marni had a short story (very short) published in a state magazine that highlights students work.
I will have to see if she will let me post it here.

Work is very slow and we have time to breath again.. well until I am acting Team Leader for 2 weeks in December, then I won't breath at all unless it is to hyperventilate from fear!

So thats all I will attempt to get on and eleborate on these and other very exciting stories later today!

great excitement!

My one and only son Isaac has advanced a little more towards being a man one day... he has, after many hours of trying, managed to produce very loud fart noises using only his hand and his armpit!! I am so proud, I will cherish this moment as a milestone of his boyhood. Sniff, I am quite teary, my little boy is growing up. I can hardly wait for his next achievement, what will it be? Those with older boys may want to let me know.

requested to blog...

by my biggest (and for the most part, silent) blog fan. How could I resist an international plea for more of my incredibly hilarious stories from my fascinating life? Even I am not immune to flattery so here I sit wearing my favorite blogging outfit, yellow flannies with pink hippos on them looking as stunning as ever. I will have you know, blog fan, that I am also watching episode 4 of the new series of The Amazing Race... jealous yet? of the jammies I mean! I have been working hard but was lucky enough to have yesterday off, I watched, fascinated, as Obama was a runaway leader in the USA election and then set to work on my top secret sewing project... no details of course as it is a s u p r i s e for certain eldest daughters... but let me say it is amazing and I am totally proud of myself... No housework was completed in the course of the day but what the heck, life is too short to clean messes... a motto I live by which is borne out by the state of my house sigh... why did the tidiness gene have to skip a generation anyways?
There are early signs that Christmas is approaching at our house, I have a nativity scene in the loungeroom already and the twins are trying very hard to persuade me to put the Christmas tree up this weekend... I am not convinced but might be convinced. I don't think there is any such thing as too much Christmas as long as the cheesy carols are turned down low I am happy. I have no idea what to get anyone this year, certain blog fans are very hard to buy for at the best of times and having to post everything makes it more challenging, any suggestions will be gratefully received. Second daughter is also hard to buy for but has requested a Pandora bracelet for her birthday, yay! That just leaves Christmas. Third daughter has provided a very long list of must have items, all very pricey. hmmm not sure which is preferable.. no list or a list of things that are too $$$. Only son is much easier, anything Ben 10, Lego or Transformers will see him thrilled to bits add the Trampoline that it is rumored Father Christmas is bringing and his life will be complete. Youngest daughter is even easier as she is a girly girl who loves art and crafts and all things pink and princessy, she will love whatever isgiven to her.
Husband is a hard one, he tends to buy whatever he needs/wants for himself when he sees it, he has strict instructions not to buy himself anything until after Christmas. His birthday is December 19th so it's a double whammy. I would like to get him a GPS but we really don't need one here in Tassie and they are big $$$ for a toy. So no idea whaat to get him either, are you seeing the pattern here?? In other news I am going to be Acting Team Leader for 2 weeks in December! OMG I am pleased to be asked but scared to bits to be honest.... I am the only part timer and wasn't expecting it at all. I will have to work full time which will be difficult but the extra money will be very handy, I also get higher duties allowance whatever that is... :)

So thats my news for this Thursday, how about you blog fan? What is your news, when are you going to write your blog hmmmmmmmm?

Love you to the moon and back

hugs Mutti xx

Craft Show Weekend!

I had the most awesome 2 days away! I took the twins to school on Friday and the raced home to be picked up for the 2.5 hour drive to the Deloraine Craft Show. Deloraine is a beautiful little town in the north west of Tasmania.The craft show is the largest in Australia and would have to be the best organised event I have ever been too. There are 10 venues spread out through the town, you park your car and then catch free buses to the other venues whenever you like. I bought a few treasures and admired LOTS more! My favorite things are wooden letters I found of Keely and Isaacs names, to paint and put up in their bedrooms. I can't wait to see thir faces when they are finished! I bought some fantastic hand made buttons for my wall hanging. They are made locally and there were so many different ones I did very well just to buy 4! I got a christmas tree, a heart, a dove and a star. I also bought the cutest nativity scene ever... so sweet that when I unpacked it to show Marni I didn't put it away again, so I guess it's oficially almost christmas at my house!

I was so inspired by all the gorgeous things I saw that this afternoon I cut out my advent calendar panel and ... drum roll please...
started SEWING it! I was SO nervous I can't tell you how slowly the machine was going at times!! But I did it and it looks pretty good...

I have so many things to finish *cough* and start *cough* `that I will be flat out until christmas!

Bella is missing...

we haven't seen her for a few days so maybe she has gone off to have the babies! In case she has hidden herself I made up flyers and the twins and I put them in letter boxes up and down the street and in the street behind our house. I printed them out on bright paper and put a photo of Bella on them.
Here is what they said

Lost Cat!

Have you seen Bella? She is a small black cat with yellow eyes and a HUGE belly. She is due to have kittens soon and we are very worried about her.
Could you please check your garage or shed in case she is shut in?

If you have seen her please let us know on

62******

Thank You

The L**** Family
52 ***** Street

PS There is no reward but you are welcome to a kitten in about 7 weeks time!

While we were handing them out a woman came over and told me she had seen a dead black cat on the highway on Monday afternoon... I felt sick and was too scared to go and look but I had to know if it was Bella. I drove along and I saw a small black body on the side of the parking area, I parked as far away as I could and told the twins to stay in the car. I went over there feeling awful, I am hopeless with blood so thankfully there wasn't any, just a cat that I didn't think was Bella, I couldn't be sure though so I asked Peter to take a look on his way home.

He had a good look and even turned the body over to make sure it wasn't Bella.

My hero! There was no way I could do that! He gets rid of spiders and bird bodies too!



We haven't heard anything yet so fingers crossed please! We miss our sweetie...

If you see these anywhere...they are mine...

apparently I am losing them rapidly! Last week I forgot our wedding anniversary which was bad enough really then today as I made a flyer about Bella being missing (more on that later) I quite happily put our address as number 52 and printed off 60 copies. I emailed one to Peter and he shot back an email that just said

"Lovely darling but I think you will find we live at number 53"

Oh good gravy... that is scary indeed. I mean to say we haven't just moved in or anything we have been here for over 3 years! In my defence, my previous address was number 252 but it was a while ago now. Sigh... I may have to invest in some memory tricks or else start writing my name and address on my hand in case I forget!

Happy non-Anniversary!

So last Wednesday was our second wedding anniversary, last year Peter sent me gorgeous flowers to work and we went out to dinner. This year guess who totally forgot the anniversary?

BOTH of us did! oh wow I cannot believe that we both forgot! I remembered this morning (5 days late) when I got to work, no idea what triggered it but I just thought "oh crap!" Peter didn't remember at all until I sent him an email!

Totally hopeless the pair of us... sigh...

Mind you it would have been horrible if one remembered and the other forgot, most upsetting!

We are having 4 days in Melbourne from November 13th, we are going to see 2 concerts and staying in a really swish hotel, that will make up for the non anniversary I hope! I am really looking forward to this trip, we haven't been away together for ages and the last time we went to Melbourne we took all the kids. The first concert is going to be amazing, we love this violinist and the concert promises to be spectacular!

The Dutch musician is responsible for around 500 people including his 55-strong Johann Strauss Orchestra and the Vienna State Ballet, which travels with him too. There will also be 60 figure skaters performing on two ice rinks in front of the castle. There will be working fountains, and 36 horses will pull carriages on and off the stage.

I am so excited! Totally better than a bunch of flowers!

I am going to be a grandma!

Well it feels like it.. Marnis cat is having Kittens! Marni is very excited, I am just wishing we had he spayed when we were going too! Isaac and Keely have already picked out names for "their" kittens... ummm no one said we were keeping them guys! Anyway they obviously think the kittens will be black like their mother because the names they have picked out are Vegemite and Licorice. Very cute!

Work Work Work

That is all I seem to do lately, usually I work .5 of full time, so 18 hours a week. I find that quite manageable with kids, home and work making up a pretty good balance. I work in a team of 5 and the other 4 work full-time, it is a good arrangement, we have busy days and not so busy days but lately we have had really busy days and 2 of the team are on sick leave for at least the next 2 weeks! UGH! I have no idea how mothers who work full time do it, I am grumpy, tired and not much fun lately. I promised myself I would take the twins to the show and we had all been really looking forward to it for weeks. I have been working my days off for a couple of weeks and didn't know if I could take the time to go. My boss was great and said no problem so Wednesday was THE day.
Of course because I had planned to take the kids to the show the forecast was terrible, rain and even SNOW (in spring!) on the mountain! I went to work in the morning and then picked the twins up from school at lunch time and off we went to the Royal Hobart Show. It was heaps of fun picking them up early we all felt like we were doing something really naughty! Going to the show is not for the fainthearted or the poor, it cost $40 just to park the car and get in the gate!!! Luckily the twins had saved money each so the damage to my wallet wasn't that bad. We got the showbags first because last year they had sold the days quota of the ones we wanted and we had to spend ages re-choosing!

We looked at all the animals in the nursery including the sweetest 3 day old minature foal awww
C U T E! There was a Tassie Devil display with a 6 month old baby devil, not-so-cute and lots of lambs, piglets and ducklings. Luckily we didn't bring any home to add to the menagerie! Isaac tried rock climbing and then I was very brave and went on the Ferris Wheel (I totally HATE those things!) Isaac drove the dodgem car and had a fabulous time, he was an amazingly good driver which was a relief because I don't like those either! We had a few turns on some games and got really tacky crap for prizes... Keely ended the day with a purple teddy bear, a white tiger and a neon orange porcupine so now she has 3000 stuffed toys in her room! We ate a delicious devonshire tea at the CWA hall, bless you ladies you are fabulous, and then bought some blue fairy floss to take home, gross!
All in all a terrific time was had and 2 of us had plenty of energy left to carry on like weirdos all the way home, maybe I should have had some of the blue fairy floss, I sure could have used the energy boost!

Crafty me...

I am loving my christmas project (s).

I have done cross stitch and other crafty things before but nothing like these. I am not creative in a start from scratch kind of a way, but I have a good eye for colour and patterns and I can copy like nobodys business! I tend to be indecisive though so I could never do scrapping, I would sit for hours admiring all the pretty things then never start much or finish anything at all!

I bought this gorgeous christmas panel and have being blinging it up with sequins and beads. It is looking fabulous and I can't wait to finish it, the trouble is it is HUGE, seriously it is as large as a door! I have no idea where I will hang it when it is finished but I am leaning toward the front hallway with a spotlight on it, maybe even a red velvet rope barrier like at the museum as well!

One of the nicest craft shops here is closing down and I have accidently gone in there twice recently and now have this panel to do as well... Laura don't look this may well be part of your christmas present!

Isn't this gorgeous? I love the colours and the cute santas... The backing fabric is red with the bells on, so, so beautiful!

At least this one is smaller, about the size of a large cushion.

I hope this isn't against some rule but I cheated and didn't take these pics, I found the panels on ebay and copied the pics! Bad me but my camera is all the way o v e r there and I am way too lazy to get it, take photos and then upload them.

I really hope I finish these projects (I am a little scared of the sewing it up part!) I am pretty determined to see them through because otherwise I have a feeling I may become a fabric tragic, with cupboards full of fantastic pieces that I will never ever use. A friend of mine who was very into fabric had a sign in her craft room that said
"she who dies with the most fabric, wins!"

Now I know what she meant by it :)

Blog mania...

I had a kid free weekend, well actually it was 73 hours (not that I counted at all...) so I made a list of all the industrious things I would be doing, I had visions of scrubbing and tidying out cupboards, I was most definetly going to get my sewing machine working again for those crafty projects I was going to start. I was going to finish fixing the paint trim in Keelys room from when Marni and Laura painted it (badly). Then I would perhaps settle down with a book or three.
Well something went slightly askew.. I turned on the laptop, "just for a minute" ahem well I was still there 3 hours later! I found these wonderful wonderful and inspiring blogs and well I NEEDED to read as much as possible of the stories being told.
I laughed and I cried along with the stories, enjoyed the photos and gained some much needed perspective into my own life.
I did manage to do the painting and read 2 books (lol) but all the rest is still waiting for me to be inspired, not likely this week, maybe next week!!

Ruby lives (again)!

Yes, she is once again working fine... phew! Thank you to Simon at Dick Smith wh was very patient and kind to me (I promise I wasn't rude but was panicking slightly at the thought of being laptopless again). Apparently the smoke was from a teeny piece of plastic that melted because the doohicky thing was bent and pressing on the whatsittybob (apologies for the technospeak). A slight adjustment and voila Ruby was back and with all the important stuff intact too! I then saved myself the $130 (gulp) that a new power pack was going to cost by going without Ruby another 3 days and got the guy who originally fixed the plug to replace the one that melted, which he did and didn't charge me for! YEAH!!! I totally wish I had the $130 to blow on the cord so I could go spend it on something else but I don't, it was earmarked for my new, desperatly needed glasses so phew I can still get them when they are ready.

Speaking (blogging?) of which I have decided that I detest needing to wear glasses, it is a pain, annoying, inconvenient and just plain sucky. Now I have worn them for (here I go sounding like Granny from Tweety bird) 33 years... good grief, I added that up twice to make sure and yep it's true. Please don't post telling me you weren't born when I got my first pair, I do not need the reminder! My eyes are pretty awful, in fact I am legally blind without my glasses and cannot function without them. I wear then from before I get up until after I get into bed, I would wear them in the shower if I could, although then I would actually SEE the nasty bits that need cleaning! :) I have had some scary moments when I haven't been able to find them, I go into a full blown panic and let me tell you I need my glasses to find my glasses so it can take a while to locate them! All my kiddos knew at a very early age that mummys glasses were not to be played with EVER, so they never did, putting little smeary fingerprints on them is another story though ugh! I wore contacts for years and loved them, I stopped wearing them a long time ago though I can't remember why. So I went to have my eyes tested and found they have deteriorated quite a bit, well DOH thats why I came in! Playing eye spy sucks when you can't even see the sign the smarty pants 7 year olds word is on! So my lovely Optician gave me some tester contacts to use so I could pick new frames (another thing that sucks is trying to pick new frames when to see what they look like, your nose literally has to be 2 inches from the mirror) what a great idea, I have picked a frame but have to go back to see it in the colour I chose before I order them. I tried very hard to stay away from the designer frame rack as my poor wallet doesn't run to such things, they were pretty gorgeous though!

I had a new haircut yesterday so I dare say I will be pretty spiffy when the new specs get here!

Fried Laptop anyone?

My lovely Ruby is no more, I took her to get a new power pack today and something went horrible wrong! The assistant did everything she was supposed to (well I am not a geeky person but I am sure she did) but when she plugged in the new cord the little green light didn't come on and then smoke started to come out of the computer! I was so shocked I didn't actually say anything at all! (a miracle ) The manager came over and took a look and then asked for my details to call me later, he did call back and said Ruby is off to Sydney (I think) for the technicians to look at, I was pretty upset but was very nice to him until he said he thought there was something wrong with the computer and that his staff member didn't do anything wrong!
Umm ok why would I take a broken computer that is still under warranty to their shop and buy a new power pack?
So hopefully it will be looked at fast and they will see that it was a fault with the new power pack (I am guessing wrong voltage) and we can come to some arrangement where they fix Ruby and get her back to me ASAP!
UGGGGHHHH!! I am so pissed off... :(

Wednesday Wonders again...

I thought I should do another wonders post... I love Wednesdays, it is my day off, payday and Spicks and Specks is on tonight!

This week my top wonders are

1/ apples

Today when the twins came home they wanted biscuits but I said no, have an apple, their faces lit up and they RAN to the kitchen to get one each! Can you tell we hadn't had any apples for a few days?

2/ Milo

I am having trouble filling the tummies up lately, they must be having growth spurts, so when I have given them everything I can think of, a warm Milo is the answer!

3/Warmer weather

Yay! I detest wearing shoes so with the warm weather comes 3/4 pants and sandals or thongs Yippeeeeeeee!!

4/ Flair

I spend quite a lot of time on facebook looking at Flair, try it you will love it! This is my current favorite.

5/ New books

Is there any better feeling than holding a brand new book in your hand... sigh I rarely buy myself new books but last week I bought TWO! I felt very self indulgent! I had been admiring their lovely newness on the shelf until last night when I could resist them no longer! I have now finished one and started on the other, pure bliss!

Thats it for this week!

Home Alone!

I am sitting here alone in a silent house, I am not sure whether I should jump for joy or feel peculiar... I was just now talking to myself... hmmm this alone business is most worrisome! I am almost never home by myself, it takes some getting used to!
Peter is working all weekend, Marni has abandoned me for her friends (sniff) and the dynamic duo are spend the whole weekend at their dads house! I have loads of house work to do, ironing that STILL hasn't done itself and lots of craft activities I would love to start (and finish some that were started a LONG time ago). But here I sit online, wondering if Laura will pop up to chat to, thereby saving me from the dreaded ironing!
I am going to ring my friend Helen soon so I really should conserve my energies (lol) and not tire myself out by over exerting..

Confessions of a disorganised slob...

UGH! I am such a slob, my house is usually untidy, sometimes grubby and always always disorganised. sigh, why did the spotless gene skip my generation?
My mother is a doorknob-polishing type, her idea of being untidy would be to leave her cup unwashed on the sink overnight Oh the horror!!! My grandmothers were both tidy although one was quite the hoarder and the other not so much.
I think my basic problem is that I am bone lazy, I wonder if the Dr would prescribe adrenelin for my chronic laziness? It would seem to be a good cause don't you think?
Peter is very tidy, when we met I was amazed that his unit was spotless anytime I visited, living with us must be a special kind of hell for him poor man.

Ahhh well tomorrow I have a friend coming to visit so I will be forced to clean up, I would hate her to see my house in it's normal state! eeeekkkkkk!
Thank heavens I don't have a cleaner, I would need to clean for days before letting one through my (grubby) front door and up the (cobwebby) stairs!


PS and no way was I adding pics to this post!!!

What could be more fun than playing Monopoly???

Playing Disney Monopoly with 7 year olds!! The Disney version is gorgeous, all the properties are Disney Movies, the playing pieces are Peter Pan, Mowgli, Snow White, Dumbo, Lady and the Tramp (aka the dog in the pound), Pinocchio and Alice in Wonderland. There is a golden Tinkerbell as well. The houses are cottages and the hotels are castles, in the centre of the board is a pop up version of Sleeping Beauty's castle. Who knew how many versions of Monopoly there are, at least 20 on one site I checked. I shouldn't have looked because I think we need the Princess version and maybe the Disney Pixar one as well... gulp!

Isaac is always talking about Monopoly even though I don't think he has ever played it, well today when I arrived at after school care he was in the middle of a game... oops bad me had arrived early because I was worried about his stick legs in shorts as it was FREEZING!

He held it together until we got to the car and then cried buckets... I told him we had Monopoly at home and he could play it, he was so thrilled that we got it straight out and then even though I had so much to do, I sat down to supervise... Well they don't know real Monopoly rules yet, add to that the Disney version has extras, combine with counting issues and a complete lack of money sense and you have total chaos! Keely was disgusted to be in Jail because "Princesses do NOT go to jail do they Mum?"

Keely was happy to spend money as long as she got change back, just like at the shops! Isaac was very cautious about spending "Because I might need my money to pay Keely" and had soon amassed a small fortune. I was banker and property manager and was struggling to keep then playing properly. It highlighted the differences in their personalities even more then usual and was so interesting to watch the thought processes. When I dashed to the loo at one point I came back to find them both in jail with Isaac paying to get out because he hates to miss a turn and Keely happy to stay there indefinetly.

I can see that unless I hide the game we will be playing every day...

We all love board games in my family, no one more than Laura, her favorite is monopoly and she is the reason we have THREE different versions! Wish you were here Laura, your brother is a mini you in so many ways..xxx

Liz Goodman Logelin Memorial 5k

was today! Marni, Keely and I braved the wild wind and walked along the bike track alongside the beach. Well Marni and I walked, Keely rode Isaac's bike. Isaac went to a birthday party so it was Team Pink !

The walk was to be at 1pm so we got ready in the requested pink and despite our expressions we really were looking forward to it!

Well we were walking into the wind on the first leg so had to push Keely on the bike ugh! I took some pics of flowers on the way as asked by the person who is making a movie/powerpoint thingy of participants for Matt.

We had the wind behind us on the return so it was slightly faster! When we got home we dived for a drink, (Marni forgot the drink bottle!) then took more photos and collapsed... I may not be able to walk tommorrow but we had fun. In fact we may even do it again next Sunday!

Happy Birthday Liz, you are the most special flower in the garden of awesome.

Photos of people all over the world walking for Liz are on flickr if anyone is interested!http://www.flickr.com/groups/lizlogelin5k

AARRGHHHHHHHH!!!

'Allo me beauties!
It is I, Cap'n Amora Roughknuckles (click here for your Pirate Name) here to inform ye that today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day!
Lookee here for details!

So shiver ye timbers and hoist the mainsail, better be brushing up on ye piratespeak before ye are forced to walk the plank!

The junior pirates, Crafty Jimbo Hacke and Bad Rum Carmen are fighting off an enemy crew at this very moment, it is a fierce battle and it appears they need my help. I will be off to lend them a hand, well a hook anyways!

Remember to talk like a pirate, I'll be watchin' ye!

142 minutes

Thats how long I talked to my friend Helen for today! How wonderful! I have known Helen since we met at boarding school (aka prison) in Grade 7. We were fellow misfits who rebelled against opression together, well Helen did in a mild way I was more of an agitator, and a misfit to be truthful. My shenanigans were most terrible and almost led to expulsion more than once, but I digress... (my kids do NOT need to know THOSE stories!)
Helen moved to the USA almost 5 years ago... far out can it really be that long??
I have needed her lately, no one else "gets" me like she does, no one can even come close. So we talked and talked and laughed a lot as well, she totally made my week (actually made my month) by calling me , I called her but my stupid card thingy rejected the number, apparently it is a snobby european only calling card that dislikes American phone numbers. HUMPH I say, I was a woman in need and that awesome 4c a minute rate almost didn't save it from destruction! Thank heavens Helen rang me back, I now not only owe her Tim Tams and a Kath and Kim DVD but a very long phone call as well!

Old friends are certainly the best even when they are 12,000km away.

Love you bunches Helen

MOI xxx

my week...

Hmm where to start, life has been a little bit unsettled lately, maybe it's me and maybe it IS the rest of the world, who knows.
The ferals are on school holidays for the rest of this week so I took time off. I was looking forward to being busy and having fun with the kids. Well Friday was okayish we went to McDonalds for breakfast then to a play centre with friends and the kids had fun. After that we went to the Library and back to McDonalds for an icecream with our friends. The other 2 families we were with had arranged to go to one house so the kids could play, we weren't invited so we came home. I was a bit upset but hey thats life. Saturday I felt listless and a bit depressed, I watched hours of The Waltons and read a book or three. Peter and the kids moved some wood from the HUGE pile we had delivered on Friday. Sunday I woke up with a cold, great way to start my holidays!! It was cool and rainy so the weather matched my mood! Peter and Isaac watched the car racing (UGHHHHH) all afternoon.
Keely pottered about amusing herself and I vegged out (still).
Monday sawus back the play centre for a farewll party for Keelys friend who is moving to Wagga Wagga. It rained again and was very windy... great weather for the holidays! Next year I swear we are going to Qld!
Today Keely had been invited to play at a friends house but when I rang the Mum she said they couldn't have her and they were busy all the rest of the week... Shit, Keely cried and I almost did, apparently I was supposed to get back in touch yesterday. Whatever...

What is wrong with people that they make an arrangement then just change their mind??? I mean if she wanted to confirm she could have rung me... I am so tired of being let down by people, if I make an arrangement I ALWAYS stick to it, no matter what. I have decided to not bother making arrangements with these people anymore. Everytime we do they get cancelled or altered or we get left out, it makes me feel like we don't matter enough for them to be considerate.
I have other friends who are reliable so we will stick to them from now on. Anyway the twins have each other and that is all they need.

Today is payday so I am going to be very frivolous and waste most of it on groceries! After that exciting outing we are coming home to tackle the kids wardrobes and bedrooms... I bet your kids are jealous that my kids are having such a fun and exciting holiday!!

Off to take more drugs....

Random Questions...

Just for you Kirsty!

1. Where is your mobile phone? .....kitchen
2. Your significant other?...............loving
3. Your hair? ................................ clean
4. Your mother? ............................. insecure
5. Your father?................................. supportive
6. Your favourite thing?.................... chocolate
7. Your dream last night?................. none
8. Your favourite drink? ...................... lemon, lime and bitters
9. Your dream/goal?........................ independance
10. The room you're in?.................living
11. Your ex?..............................pathetic
12. Your fear?........................... illness
13. Where do you want to be in six years?..... retired
14. Where were you last night?.......... Home
15. What you're not?.....................tidy
16. Muffins?.............................. thanks
17. One of your wish list items?.........Canada
18. Where you grew up?................... Hobart
19. The last thing you did?.................eat
20. What are you wearing?................. trackies
21. Your TV?................................ off
22. Your pet?................................ cats
23. Your computer? ........................ on
24. Your life?................................ disjointed
25. Your mood?..........................sad
26. Missing someone?.................... Laura
27. Your car?..........................dented
28. Something you're not wearing?.........shoes
29. Favourite Store?..................... Target
30. Your summer?....................... soon
31. Like someone?.......................kids
32. Your favourite colour?................purple
33. Last time you laughed........... today
34. Last time you cried?.............today

Isaac's List

of what is different between he and Keely started off well and then took an unexpected turn..

1/ I am a boy and she is a girl

2/ I am right handed and she is left handed

3/ she has long hair and mine is short (no mention of the colour)

3/ we go for different football teams

4/ she is weird and I'm not

5/ I am going to grow a moustache one day and she isn't (hope this is true)

5k Memorial walk...

so, I read Matt's blog and have followed his story since May. He is a young widower who is bringing up his daughter Madeline with the help and love of his family and friends. Matts wife Liz died the day after Madeline was born.

Some of Matts supporters have organised a 5k walk to celebrate Liz's birthday. The walk is September 21st at 1pm in your timezone, they hope to get people all over the world walking in a 24 hr tribute to Liz, and to Matt.

I am going to walk and am asking you to walk with me or to sponsor me. Details are here if you are interested.

Do you name things?

Other than children and pets I mean! I do, I have always named my cars and appliances. I nickname the kids and people at work (not always kindly I have to confess!) Even my very annoying neighbour has a nickname. The kids are nicknamed Liz (Laura), Bee or Bean (Blair), Mouse (Marni), Zacclebud (Isaac), Kikidee or Kickleberry (Keely).

Obviously my naming fetish has rubbed of on the girls, Marni tells me that she and her workmates have named all the machines at Maccas (if you are in the Rosny one the Fry machine is named Archie, make sure to say hi!)
My laptop is Ruby because it's red, my other computer had sticking out speaker so I named it Mickey, naturally the next computer became Donald, one car was Harriet and aother was Fast Eddie, Marnis car is Nellie. Pete refuses to name his silly man! I once named a ginger cat Gerald after the Real Estate agent who sold us our house (he had red hair)!
So let me know what do you name and why?

weird spaces

I am not sure why there are b-i-g spaces in that last post, I edited them out twice but back they came... hmmm I think I should pretend I meant for them to be there!

Names

I have a lifelong fascination with names, I always watch movies all the way through the credits to name watch. I collect examples of names good, bad and just plain awful, my daughters share my obsession and cannot wait to tell me of the latest atrocity. Laura was a great source when she was teaching here and Marni has supplied me with some doozies, more have come from our files at work, we have 70,000 members so great opportunities to find some bad ones. I have a ranking system in order of ickyness, here are some with actual factual examples, I couldn't make these up I promise!

• Normal name spelled eewneekly on purpose to be diff'ren'T

Jaymz, Steffanee, Dunkin, Genefor, Jewd, Mattu (pron. Matthew), Rakkael, Feenix

• Matching or rhyming or theme names for siblings or even worse, multiples

twins named Mark and Marcus

sisters named Shakaya and Shakoda their cousin is Shakylah and their aunt is Shakira

• Odd names for siblings

brothers named Maverick and Brumby

sisters named Cameron, Ripley and Ziggy

• Names that sound awful with the last name or create a bad set of initals

Drew, surname Peacock (say it fast)

Mrs V D Hoare

Chastity Bell

• weird names, often from a movie or celebrity
  

Elvis Valentino

Trinity

• Bland or boring names because the parents couldn't be bothered.

Ben Jones and his sister Sarah Jones (my cousins), John
(so named because he was born on his uncle Johns birthday and "we couldn't think of anything else")

Bassett, because he was named after his father!! Yup lets just pass on the misery...

I have many more but these are my worst of the bad names I have come across... let me know if you have any I can add to my lists!

Ruby Lives!!!

Well after a week of anxiety and severe withdrawal symptoms I am thrilled to have Ruby back and working fine! YAY! According to the Technogeekyperson who had a look all that was needed was a new plug on the power cord phew! So for $45 (bargain!) I have a fully working laptop back. :) Happy, happy me! It was quite startling how much I use this thing, I am on here most nights browsing about or playing games, reading blogs and just vegging out. I was much more anxious and restless without my "fix" not to mention a wee bit crabby apparently. :) Hard to believe I know.
I had sick kiddos all last week and spent some nice hours making Lego, readng and snuggling, if only life could always be so peaceful, well minus the coughing up lungs and vomiting episodes, that is! Terribly awful that the Olympics were on and we HAD to watch it all day long... When I went back to work I was quite put out that I missed all the exciting swimming etc oh and we don't have Lego at work either! So deprived... I may put it in the suggestion box this week!

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday

my gorgeous laptop Ruby is no more, she went silent on Tuesday afternoon and nothing has been able to bring her back.. :( I have the name of a guru/laptop ICU person who is willing to take a look fingers crossed he can help!

I did a bad, bad thing...

oh my what have I done? A non sewer like myself who cannot even recall SEEING her sewing machine in 3 years, went to a quilting shop and accidently signed up for a class!!! Oops. Thank goodness I came to my senses and realised I cannot possibly make a quilt without the basics (sewing machine and cutting thingy, oh and yes ability!) eeek, I explained my sudden dose of reality and the very nice lady at this amazing shop understood. She very patiently asked me my level of ability and didn't even laugh when I said it was a minus figure! I ended up buying this panel and am going to attempt to make a wall quilt!! I blame my mother who made me a gorgeous angel wall quilt a few years ago, I didn't really appreciate the amount of work she put into it at the time, thanks Mum! I expect to be asked about my progress so I don't slack off and not finish it. GULP! Well I have loads of time don't I? I mean its 4 months to Christmas! I better get it started this weekend!

Wednesday Wonders

I decided to take an idea from my friend Kirsty's Five Friday Favorites and take the time to think about the things I love and are special in my life, Friday doesn't really work for me (and besides it's taken!). I am going to use Wednesday instead and am not setting a number so if I can't think of five it's ok!

Here I go

1/ My husband Peter

Peter is a wonderful man, kind, generous and loving. I cannot imagine my life without him, he makes me a better person and I am so thankful. He also thinks I am beautiful (maybe that is his best quality!)

2/ Our SEVEN children

Our 7 kiddos are all different, all amazing, all loved to pieces!

3/ My bathroom

We turned a spare bedroom into an ensuite and do I love it! It is the sunniest room in the house and is always warm. If only it had a lock on the door.... sigh

I have loads of other things but thats all I have time for this week :)

Ciao Mama

thats how Laura ended the phone call last night, she is in Italy staying with a family as their summer nanny-type person. They are treating her like royalty and spoiling her rotten so wonderful to know, BUT, and this is a BIG but, even bigger than mine! I am having a major freak out, I know she is a big girl and having a wonderful experience but I am her mother and I worry. I have always kept a lid on my paranoia for her sake and my own mental health but yesterday it came pouring out... my baby is in a foreign country all by herself, she doesn't speak the language or know anyone, add to that she is young and beautiful and my heart just stops. What if something happens to her? How will I know? I can't get there in less than 24 hours if she needs me. Ever since she planned her trip I have thought about my school friend Susan who went to England to teach when she was 25, she became ill and her parents and sister flew to her bedside and arrived just before she died.. ugh morbid thoughts I know but always there in the back of my mind. The parents of the backpackers who were murdered are in my thoughts too, the sadness and devastation on their faces haunt me. The nephew of a friend died in Venice after falling from an escalator in the most stupid accident ever, the 20 year old who was killed in Greece just this week... on and on and on I want to turn off my brain and never watch the news again.. But instead I laugh and talk to my daughter and tell her be careful, I love you... Ciao Bella

Crazy Day

Thursday was crazy day at school, well what to wear that was warm, comfortable and not too bizarre was the question! Isaac solved that very easily by choosing to wear his (thankfully new) pyjamas! What a silly boy... Keely wore a very special outfit that sadly you don't get the full effect of in the pic, she had on sparkly white shoes, rainbow striped tights, a tulle ballet skirt , a pink hoody with a fairy on it and her hair sprayed with hairspray and sprinkled with glitter! The glitter seemed a good idea at the time but is proving to be VERY difficult to get out of her hair.. ahhhhh they looked so funny and cute... I wish I could wear my flanny jamas to work...

Watch out world here comes Marni!

P-day has arrived! Marni and Nellie are on the loose, beware all ye who drive in Hobart.


Ha ha actually she is apparently a very good driver (I have never been brave enough to let her drive me anywhere) who passed her test with flying colours and first time too! I am already reaping the benefits because three times this week she has driven herself to and from work. I am looking forward the most to tonight though when I can go to bed when I choose instead of waiting up until 11pm to pick her up! Yippeeeeeeeee!


Of course I am having the nervy freakouts about her being out in the wide world all alone... eeeekkk but I am trying to be calm, I have other things to freak out over, but thats another post..

eye cen spul gud

but I suck at typing, especially on the laptop, so please ignore the typos. I wish I could but they leap out at me everytime I am on here. Curse you oh flying fingers!

Housekeeping...

Hmmm I changed the template, I don't love it but it's better than the icky maroony background. I wish I knew how to centre the photo but what the hey.. I tried to add a visitor ticker to record the people who aren't flocking to my blog ha ha ha, but no success. I have things to write about but my camera is all the way in the dining room and I am too lazy to move.... Maybe I will write them anyways.

Lazy Weekend

Well after the last 2 weekends I am happy to have a very lazy, quiet one at home. We had soccer yesterday and then went to McDonalds for breakfast (hey I have to have some reward for being out in the cold at sparrow fart) then we came home and did nothing for the rest of the day. I lazed in the recliner with a heat pack on my back and watched the kids play with their birthday toys. We got them a Nintendo DS each so they were the main focus for the last week, I am very glad we have headphones, imagine duelling games getting louder and louder! They got so much stuff it was amazing, lots of creative things like beados for Keely and Isaac got lego and some games. They played UNO and made a mess with scissors and paper, I read a book and watched some more episodes of the Waltons, overall a wonderful day.

Today is much the same except I am trying to get the ferals dressed to go out, they are resisting quite strongly so I may have to get tough, well ok bribe them with chips for lunch! When we get home we are starting to make an indent in the HUGE pile of books they got as presents last week..

There is noting better than a quiet day near the woodheater with my babies.

No junk mail please!

Isaac had tennis lessons for 2 terms last year, he had fun and enjoyed it but has moved on to soccer and swimming instead. His name is still on the mailing list for updates and every so often he gets a leter with the logo on it, he always throws them away. Well recently he got a letter without a logo and he was very excited, until he opened it and it was a tennis letter sneakily disguised in a plain envelope. Well he was really upset because he thought it was a "real letter".. 10 minutes after opening it he gave me this with the instruction to "post this Mum because I don't want any more letters from Tennis"

Well I laughed and laughed, how determined is he to put a stop to these letters?

He is a pretty funny boy most of the time but he is even funnier when he is so serious.. :)

So do you think I should book him in for tennis next term??

Happy Birthday Marni, Isaac and Keely!

Well what a busy week/weekend we had. Blair arrived home on Thursday and busied herself cooking and cleaning (what a kid!) I spent Friday running around doing last minute things such as ordering a cake for Marni... Mother of the year nominee forgot!!! Thank goodness it wasn't too late and all was well. Keely and Isaac were like rubber balls bouncing with excitement all afternoon. They had soccer in the morning then we rushed home to get ready for the Princess party... clothes and bling do not assure a princess like manner I found out, little Lucy had the loudest burp I have ever heard, quite startling really. The food and decorations were pink and purple ... as you can see it looked like Barbie threw up in our dining room.

After the little princesses had gone home we had a rest then got ready for the main event.. Marnis 18th party!

I was ready in minutes but Marni took ages... I have no idea what she and Blair were doing but the end results were stunning!

The party was great all the guests behaved themselves and there wasn't a crumb of cake left at the end.

Sunday we had to decide to chance the weather as it was forcast to be freezing cold and snowing.. The sun was out so we bravely decided to head for the park as planned for Isaacs Football party. Can you figure out who he goes for??

The decorations were up and the handball competition thingy almost finished when the first guests arrived. The boys had a fantastic time rolling about in the mud and tackling each other, what a perfect party for these footy mad boys!

The weather held off thank goodness but it was cold, we were very glad to get home for a warm bath (Isaac) and a hot coffee (Peter and I). I would like to know who's idea it was to have 3 children born on the same day??? Not mine thats for sure.

Beautiful Bicheno weekend

Well we had the BEST weekend away with great friends and gorgeous scenery to celebrate Kayleens 40th birthday! We arrived just after dark on Friday night so it wasn't until Saturday morning we could see how spectacular a spot we were in!

The twins and I went for a walk on the rocks, poking into rockpools and trying to find a crab for Keely, luckily we didn't find one because Mummy isn't to keen on bitey things!

We found a wheely cool seat and explored a little bit,

a friendly horse wandered over to beg for some bread and 2 apples (how did he know we had food? asked Keely)

then Kayleen appeared and we went to make a scrummy brunch! Bobbie had excelled herself in the food department, we had so much I was going to ask the horse to come back to help us eat it all.. John was bbq king and while I struggled to make edible pancakes Bobbie whipped up everything else. We had a lovely time eating and laughing until we had to concede defeat and leave some tasty things uneaten. About then we asked the big question and Kayleen said yes, she was indeed pregnant again and had been waiting for the moment to tell us all.. ha ha, well we guessed so she had to spill it. How exciting, another baby to spoil and be Aunties to! Lets hope mum wins the name discussion and that its a girl, dad wants to name a boy... wait for it... Danger! ummm just no!

After lunch we had a nice rest and then got ready for our dinner, Bobbie and I went to decorate the restaurant and it looked fabulous, the balloons and cake were done by Bob and I supplied the

robe and party hat. Kayleen loves purple in case you hadn't guessed!

We had some 40 scatters on the table and Keely kept herself busy during the loooong wait for the food, what a creative girl, Isaac just gathered up as many of them as possible because he wanted to have 100!

We had the best time and can't wait to go and stay there again very soon, maybe in October.

Toothless...

Finally after days of wiggling and worry, Isaac lost his other front tooth. The first one fell out 2 weeks ago amid much excitement, he looks so funny with the massive gap! I hope his new teeth are big enough to fill the space up! Funny how the tooth looks so small in his hand. (sniff) my baby is growing up.

There has been much dithering about what to do for the twins birthday this year. I had said they could have parties then I got the can't-be-bothereds followed by the financial-panics. Damn expensive having three kids born on the same day! Marni is 18 this year so she needs to be the focus, added to that the twins are getting Nintendo Ds which cost big $$$. I should have kept my mouth shut because I now find myself organising THREE parties within 24 hours. UGH! Marnis invitations went out 2 weeks ago, they were very cool if I say so myself. I will have to take photos of the one I have left over.

I finished the twins invitations this afternoon, Keely is having a princess party at home and Isaac is having a football party (AFL to you thugby fans!) at the park. It is going to be a HUGE weekend, Blair arrives home on Thursday night, Friday will be spent cleaning and cooking like mad people, Saturday the twins have soccer at 10am then Keelys party at 12.30. Marni is having a party at 8pm until whenever. Sunday we get to freeze our bums off at the park with 8 footy mad little biys! Please pray for a dry day because if it rains I am having it at home! sob!

Oh yeah and my mother is coming to stay Saturday night as well!

Born on the 4th of July...

Tomorrow is my friend Christines birthday.
Christine died in 1993 of complications from a bone marrow transplant, ironically the transplant itself was a success but she had an allergic reaction to the freezing agent. She was a funny funny lady who loved life, her family and adored her children, what a terrible, sad time it was when she was sick, watching her and her family as they dealt with her illness and struggled to keep up a positive attitude. I have known some special people over the years but no one with as much dignity and spirit as this lady.

I think of you often but especially in July

Miss you Chris xxx

Random thoughts

wow it's been 2 weeks since I was on here, I have been working full time and not only did it exhaust me but it played serious havoc with my internet time! How on earth do mums who work full time keep up with everything? I was hopeless and I had Peter on holidays to help with running the ferals about. We managed not to starve although vitamin deficiancy is a possibility, meals were scratchy at best and downright unhealthy at worst! The washing was being done at ridiculous hours and socks clean socks were an in demand item every morning. Phew I am so glad it is over until next end-of-financial- year madness strikes our members. Why oh why do they wait until June to think "oh I think I will put some money into super" arghhhhhhhhh drives me bonkers! Naturally I put money in every fortnight via a pay deduction (see my halo shining?) Anyways I have just read a comment by a long lost friend Michelle (waves to Michelle) How exciting to see you here, I of course have no idea how to reply to you but I have to say your life sounds like it has taken some exciting turns since I last talked to you!

Speaking of old friends I have had contact with several lately, its such a wonderful thing that the internet has brought to my life, instant communication with my family and friends and now re connecting with people I have thought about and wondered about for years. :)

Weird to think all this is normal for my kiddos who cannot really remember life before computers, what lucky people they are to experience the wonders of the internet age.

Sending love and hugs to everyone I have met online xxx

PS well everyone except weirdo, stalker guy, you know who you are

On Friday we went to the Aquarium , Pete had a contact there through his work, he came down and chatted, showed us where the new exhibit of penguins and seals are going to be later in the year and then took all 8 of us through for no charge. YAY! Its pretty expensive there and we saved almost $170! The kids loved it, they got to touch seeweed and jellyfish and also a starfish. We saw the diverrs feed the sharks and other fish and Isaac asked a million questions. I loved the jungle exhibit where the twins were almost eaten by a HUGE totem statue, lucky they escaped!

On Friday night Isaac finally got to go to Telstra Dome to see his Cats play, he was beyond excited and bounced all day. Blair and Kris were taking him (Phew) so they set off at about 7pm for the short tram ride, apparently Isaac talked and sang all the way there, he also talked all through the warm up, the 4 quarters and the breaks! Blair bought him a huge blow up Geelong hand, (seriously what were you thinking B??? ) which caused viewing issues for everyone sitting nearby (oops). He danced and sang in the shop at 3/4 time and again walking back to the hotel, Blair and Kris were exhausted when they arrived back at 10.30ish, Isaac was a fresh as a daisy and still talking when I tucked him into bed at 11pm!

Methinks Isaac could be natures contraceptive, strangely none of the girls have expressed any desire for kids in the near future... weird that.

We spent an amazing day at the Scienceworks place. OMG the kids LOVED it, we did too because they spent 4 hours running from one thing to another and trying everything. It was $6 each for adults and FREE for kids! YEAH... I of course forgot to take even 1 pic, I suck!

Thursday was the best day, it was sunny and perfect and we all went down to Crown to meet Kate and Charlie! Kate is such a sweetie she drove all the way up just to see us, thanks Kate! It was so nice sitting in the sunshine watching the kids playing and eating yummo desserts. Charlie is so cute and perfectly behaved. She had fun with the big kids and they thought she was just the best plaything ever! I took lots of photos that day and this is my favorite one.

Melbourne Trip

Well we survived... just! We had a hotel mix up where we were without a room for the final night, many phone calls to our travel agent mate Phil later (it was VERY hard to find a room for 1 night of a long weekend for 6 people!) we found a room and didn't have to spend the night in the airport! The kids were brilliant overall, they aren't used to being so close to us or one another add to that having late nights and dealing with strange surroundings, it could have been disasterous! We walked their legs off every day and they never complained, I did though, I have never walked so much in my life, my poor legs muscles and aching feet! It was pretty cold for the first few days but then it warmed up until we had bright sunshine for the last few days. We went to the Zoo and had a wonderful time, highlights were the elephants, my favorite of course, and the butterfly house

nostalgia...

ahhh I am watching the second season of The Waltons and loving it. I remember watching it every week in the 70's and wanting to be a part of their wonderful family. I may have had a teeny crush on Jason for a while but he was a goody goody so then it was Ben, I was willing to overlook his red hair because he had a gleam in his eye. I still pine for a Waltons house, I would love a big old farmhouse with a porch, of course I would need Grandma and Olivia to cook and clean for me :)

I also wanted to be in the Partridge Family and the Brady Bunch perhaps thats why I have so many children, I did name Laura after Laura Ingalls but I drew the line at Jim Bob!

Tonight I am looking forward to sitting back with a glass of the recipe (wine) and being taken back to Waltons Mountain na na na naa naaa naaaa

Melbourne here we come!

Yes it's true, in a moment of madness we decided a week in Melbourne with ALL the kids would be a good idea! We are going to the Zoo and the Science museum thingy place (so organised as you can see) and probably the aquarium. Blair has volunteered to take Isaac to see his Geelong Cats play on Friday night, bless her. It was more than I could cope with to be in such a huge crowd, mind you they are playing the Kangaroos so I hope they don't win!

Hopefully Mikki (stepdaughter) will actually get on the plane as she is apparently terrified of flying... eeeek!

I am sure we will all manage to get there in one piece.
My mother decided we needed her to house and cat-sit so I should really be frantically cleaning my rather "lived in" house instead of writing about it!

Hiking in Antartica

Isaac and Keely have just marched into the lounge room wearing coats and huge backpacks and singing "we'll be coming down the mountain" OMG funniest kids ever!

Apparently cleaning their rooms got a wee bit boring and an adventure was in order!

Keely is sitting here reading this as I am writing it, whoohoooooooo my baby can read!
Yeah Keely!

Lyrics by Isaac

We'll be comin' down the mountain when we come YEE HAW
We'll be comin' down the mountain when we come Hi Babe
repeat endlessly

Update on Bella

Well the lump turned out to be an abcess which burst, very icky! Poor baby was miserable until the antibiotics kicked in. She is sporting a very funny haircut to make things even worse. She is being spoiled rotten while she recovers, funny how she takes it as her due. She is the sweetest cat with quite the personality... we are all in love with her especially me. Peter calls her the supervisor because she oversees everything he does outside right down to inspecting the plants he has just planted , she helps "water" them too. :)