We had a great weekend – it was slow and quiet and I got a heap of scrapping done, finishing 5 layouts and starting 4 more that I’ll get to complete during this week. The girls were out and about, playing with each other then over the road with Addy, so they were kept busy and mostly out of our hair. Amy continued on her great sleeping campaign, now going 5 nights in a row and having super day naps as well. We love her at the moment!

Justin put together some more clips for YouTube, this time of the girls so that his family in WA, especially Nana, could see them. If you have a chance, check out this one of Jess on her bike. She was having a bad day!

Yesterday I went over to Rach’s for lunch and a marathon scrapping session. Having a few hours of uninterrupted time was why I was able to get so much done. You could hear the Serenity! Thanks Rachie.

Righto, Monday morning means getting back into the swing of things. Off for a run now, then into the day’s routine. Have a great one 🙂

Added some photos some of the layouts I did over the weekend (Emma this is as per your request!!)
811
^ This one, I have to day, was inspired by Beth’s Layout. I always remember the pic of her running shoes. Hope you don’t mind I pinched your idea Beth!
814
^The day we went to the caves in Wee Jasper
817
^The day we went to see The Fairies at the Canberra Theatre
820
^A recent pic of the four girls.

Thanks for looking 🙂

I mentioned the other day that Justin had put together a DVD for the 100th Birthday of our cousin in Holland. Well it is now on YouTube!! Freak out.

If you are interested in seeing us on video click here and check it out.

I just wanted to jot down a few of the milestones that she has reached so that I don’t forget them.

* She is 10 months old.

* She now has 6 teeth. 4 along the top and 2 pegs on the bottom.

* She is waving like crazy. All the time – even when I’m feeding her she waves at me!

* As well as going up the stairs, she now goes down them. One step at a time, backwards and very carefully.

* She climbs into and over everything. If there is a basket, bucket, clothes airer, persons legs, sister lying in the way, she goes right over the top.

* She can say other things now, so as well as Dad and Mum it is Lalala and imitations of singing and humming.

* She has slept through the past 2 nights. Bliss.

* She is wearing size 0 clothes. I’ve packed away all the 000’s and 00’s forever. (But I’m saving them for Penny!!)

* She can walk while we hold her hands. Getting more firm on her feet, but not ready to do it solo.

I think that is about it. A quick wrap up of her development 🙂

I’m just trying to get in a quick update while I have a window of opportunity.

The back to school week has been a blessing and everything is running fairly smoothly once again. Amy slept all night last night. Not one peep. I bounced out of bed at 6.30am, went for a run and feel on top of the world. No wonder all you people look so fresh and feel so great – you are getting a good night’s sleep!

We’ve just all been to Grandparents Day at Holly’s school. It began with Mass and then a concert and morning tea in the hall. There was a bit of a lull in between acts, so Jess went up to the Principal and told him that she would sing a song into the mircophone. I was a little skeptical that she would do it when it came to the crunch but, she overwhelmed me by giving a beautiful rendition of The Itsy Bitsy Spider and then You Are My Sunshine. Such confidence! You can tell she had 2 older sisters. Then Amy crawled over to a little boy and took his chocolate biscuit. Sheesh!!

I have to admit, too, that the Playstation is a huge hit and lots of fun. The best things we have is a game called Eye Sports and there is a camera which puts your photo on the body of a player and you do all these crazy actions to win the game. It is so funny and the kids get exhausted by it. The singstar, or songstar whatever it is, is OK. But it kept telling me I was “Awful” , so I’m not going to do that again until after a few drinks 🙂

I was back at the dentist on Tuesday and go the other silver filling replaced. I didn’t have the anesthetic again – stupid or brave, not really sure. After that I had my teeth cleaned by the hygienist and that hurt more than the filling. My gums were so inflamed that night that I could hardly chew. And she said that they were in great condition, so I don’t know why she had to scrub so damn hard. Thankfully back to normal now, shiny and white.

Justin has done a great job putting together a CD full of video recordings of my Dad’s family to be sent to Holland for my Grandfather’s cousins 100th Birthday. Father Henry Scholtens has visited us in Australia lots of time and his monastery had been the refuge for so many of us weary travellers over the years. He is still fighting fit and I’m sure will be delighted to see the video of his Aussie Relatives.

Well that is about it for the wrap up of the past few days. Hope that will keep you going Lin! Gotta get a bit of MYOB done before the preschool pick up.

Lots of love xxx

It seems that the past 2 weeks of school holidays have been a whirlwind and I am pleasantly relieved that today we have returned to the normal routine.

This past weekend was a buzz. Saturday was spent preparing for Mum’s 60th Birthday party, being held here. We had about 45 people attend and it was so great. A really wonderful chance to get together with extended family and very close friends to honour my Beautiful Mother. As far as Mums go she is right up there with the Best. It was a shame that my little bro James and Sascha couldn’t come, but Mum’s sister and her partner, and all of Dad’s sisters and their partners came which was a huge effort. It just shows how much we all adore you Mum.
799
^ Irene Birthday Girl. She doesn’t look 60 hey?
802
^ My Grandparents (front centre) and their 6 children and partners.
808
^ My siblings plus partners, of course desperately missing James and Sascha.

Sunday was a bit hard going. I must have eaten a bad prawn (!) because I was a little worse for wear and even at bedtime I was still feeling very queasy. Today I’m feeling back to normal but running this morning was a bit tough. Meg, Jess, Amy and I are just going to hang out today, lay low and tidy up the party remains.
805
^ Meg and Jess with the party balloons.

Over the last week I must have eaten 6 birthday cakes. Well, not all of them, but pieces of them. I’m sweet-toothed out. I really don’t want to eat another piece of cake until September. 🙂

Thanks Kate and Rohan for coming up for he weekend; Thanks Penny for all your delicious finger food platters; Thanks Lisa for the dips and hope you are feeling better today.

So with half the year over, and term 3 underway today, I hope everyone has a great week!

Half of 70! Mid Thirties! Bring it on!!

I’ve had a lovely birthday morning today. The girls were very excited to give me my presents which were a set of 3kg hand weights, earrings and a book. I’ve had lots of phone calls and lots of versions of the Happy Birthday song!! Thank you all.

Justin has taken the girls out now under the guise of purchasing a Playstaion for my birthday, but I really know better. It is for him! What do I need with a Playstation?

It was -1 when I ran this morning. I was so rugged up – singlet, jumper and another jumper, leggins and trackpants, that it was actually weighing me down – I had to walk up a hill! Horror 🙂

Have a great day everyone 🙂

Had a super weekend up in the big city. Arrived Friday afternoon to our luscious Hotel in Manly took a walk along the beach and found somewhere for dinner. Everywhere we went people stared at us, and sure, we weren’t as fabulously dressed as the Sydney set, but we did have more children and that is always something to look at! The kids were so good. It is hard to sit still and be good all the time, but they did amazingly well.

On Saturday, we drove to Taronga Zoo. It is in Mosman and so we took a scenic drive through the suburbs hoping to spot a celebrity. Justin told me to ask a old bloke if he was famous as we drove past him, and what do you know it was Sir William Deane (ex Gov Gen of Australia) so that was very exciting. The Zoo was brilliant. Totally awesome and the animals were fantastic. Jess was not well, so she slept and was groggy for most of the day and thankfully we took the twin pram so that was OK. Amy was loving the birds and was quite agog at the atmosphere. The girls favourite thing was the cable car ride that went from the top to the bottom of the zoo over the heads of everything. They went on it 3 times.
775
^ The giraffes were my favourite thing. They are totally amazing and here we are in front of them.
778
^ My other fav – the elephants. They may not be running loose in Sth Africa Rach, but they are just gorgeous!
781
^ Holly and Meg atop the statues.
787
^ Holly sitting with the Gorillas. I know that Mother looks like me! I’ve been breast feeding for a long time now, OK!
790
^Justin and Amy enjoying the Bird Show

On Sunday we had brekky in a cafe by the beach and then went on to Curl Curl beach for Zoe’s first birthday party. I made Zoe a blanket with a “z” on it and boy did we need it. It was so cold, but we had a great time and the girls loved seeing Zo-Zo and Uncle Jimmy. After that we raced off to catch the Ferry to Circular Key (which we missed by 30secs and had to wait half an hour for the next one) to meet James, Rowena and Oscar. We found them and went for a stroll to the Opera House (Ophrah wasn’t home) and the kids had a great run around while we sat and were amazed at the gorgeous view. Later on we headed back to the ferry, only to miss it again by 30secs!
793
^ This is Ro and Oscar with Amy and I. Oscar is about 10 weeks younger than Amy and she kept swatting him. Not a good way to get the cute boys attention Amy!!
796
^ Meg on the Ferry. It was FREEZING!

Amy was a shocker every night, suffice to say that I was glad to get home and put her in her cot that is way at the end of the house where I can’t hear. We all slept well last night!!

So our weekend was just perfect. The people are so trendy and suave and everyone was helpful and polite. Good on you Sydney!

784
^The girls and I on Manly Beach.

Ultrasound came back clear. Amy does not have a hernia, but the technician did want to take her home and adopt her.

We had a huge day yesterday. After the 15th fight that morning, we decided to get the girls packed up and out of the city for awhile. We drove to Yass and then onto Wee Jasper where we went to a Cave, chased goats, had a nice lunch in the country and some lovely fresh air. It was a very relaxing and utterly delightful day. The cave man was a bit of a whacko (clearly too much time spent in caves) and he took a bit of a shine to Jess and I. We were both glad to get to the end and be rid of his affections.

I’m madly trying to organise Taronga zoo tickets, e passes for the damned tollways in Sydney and times to meet up with friends and family. I had a call from the sleep centre asking if I could come in for my 4 night stint this afternoon. How typical is that? Of course I had to decline since we are committed to going to Sydney tomorrow, but I hope they’ll call me again. Having said that, Amy was great last night, only waking once.

Got loads to do so best be off. Have a super weekend – I know we will!!

I went to the dentist this morning to have an old silver filling replaced with a white tooth coloured one. The dentist asked if I wanted anesthetic.

“Hmmm, is that a needle?” I ask.
“Yes” She replied.
“Then NO WAY” I’ll bear it, I thought. I’ve been through labour four times. I’ll cope.

She began the drilling and my hands began to clench and then the drill hit something that really hurt. And then again, and again. Ouchy. But it was soon over and no numb face, and no awful silver filling anymore. Next week I’m going back for the other one. I’m already clenching my teeth in anticipation of that pain sensation.

School holidays have been OK so far, until this afternoon when we got a phone call from a debt collection agency saying that we had an overdue bill from Telstra and if we didn’t pay today they were going to start legal action. After Jus spoke to 9 people about this we still don’t know what the bill is for, why they were sending the bill to an obsolete PO Box (we had it about 3 years ago for work) and why a telephone agency don’t even friggin call you when you have an overdue bill that they are taking you to court over. My mind is still boggling at the stupidity of it all.

Amy is being an absolute terror again in the night. This is exhausting. She is having an ultrsound on Thursday to rule out a hernia. Something is wrong – no-one cries like that. I hope the problem is resolved soon, and we get into the sleep centre fast.

Dinner time now. Have a good week all.

We are on a countdown for the holidays to begin. Holly asks me everyday is she should start to pack for our Sydney trip so she is ready. She is one excited bunny about going to Ocean World and the Zoo.

Not much has been going on lately. I’ve finally completed all our end of financial year obligations, (without too many errors!!) and am hoping to get that off to the accountant by the end of the month. Our little business met it’s targets in terms of revenue for the year, so that makes the boss happy!

Meg really likes using the computer and Barbie is one of her favourite sites. This morning I went to the printer to get some reports I’d done and there were about 10 sheets of activities that she had printed from the site. She is such a little whizz, navigating around these webpages and she can’t even read yet! She is beginning to write though, and if I write the word first, she meticulously copies it, and with great delight shows me what she’s done. I had a letter from the school yesterday saying she’d been accepted into Kindergarten next year. The teacher will not have an ounce of trouble with her 🙂 Holly’s teacher asked me why I’d even bothered to come to interviews, as she is sailing along beautifully with not a problem in the world.

Off to Spotlight now in search of new curtains and maybe a scrapping purchase or two.

Loving the Rain!