A Birthday

A little girl in our house turned 5 on Friday....she asked for a lollipop cake (which she literally thought she'd be able to eat like a lollipop????) and a present that she's been begging for, for the last 6mths!

I think her present is a little overwhelmed at the attention she's getting...

...and the birthday girl was distraught that her new little 'fluffy' couldn't sleep in her room with her at night...

p.s just had to share something Mike and I had a bit of a laugh at - we bought 'fluffy' and then went next door to the Vet's to get her vaccinated...the receptionist asked Layne: 'what's your rabbit's name??' Layne promptly said 'Charlie'...so the name 'Charlie' went into the computer - a few minutes later the vet came out calling for 'Charlie' - as we started to get up - Layne started going off at the vet...telling him that she's not a charlie anymore that her name is now 'fluffy'...and then she sat back down waiting for him to call for 'fluffy'....

CLICKINMOMS

Ok so I know there are heaps of you that love photography - I have this posted on my photography blog but thought I'd put it here as well for you. If you're interested - this is a pretty cool site - you can join for as little as $6 a month! It's a great source of information and tutorials and a great way to learn more about photography at your own pace.

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star wars with a pottery barn fix...

...Jake's room has always been one of those 'I'll get around to it' things since we moved into our house...now 2 and 1/2 years later and new baby nearly here I thought maybe I'd better do something about it or it'll be one of those MANY ideas I have, that never seem to make it from the idea, to the real thing! So the husband and I sat down and made a whole plan - measurements and all...have moved furniture around and made room for a desk that will come over the next few months as time and money allow. The rest I've slowly been doing bit by bit over the last little while...and although it's a long way from done...I'm just happy that something is actually being done!

Jake loves star wars...I love pottery barn...we don't have pottery barn here...it's a sad thing and it frustrates me to no end sometimes...and because we don't have pottery barn here...our target doesn't stock 'pottery barn look alike' stuff (without the pottery barn price tag!). So since it'll be awhile before our next trip to the U.S...(which I've told my husband will be purely 'a shopping trip' :) I've started to look at what I can do myself...the husband then started to get into it and if any of you remember the post I did about a year or so ago about the bed head that he made me...you'll see that he is quite handy...just has a very time consuming job which limits his 'handiness' to me...(I know... again frustrating!)

But then some kind of miracle started to happen - he doesn't have any extra time... in fact less than normal, but he started to look at some of the things on pottery barn that I liked and he was convinced that he could make most of it!!!!...needless to say I immediately threw ALL my furniture out and eagerly awaited the expected goods.... ok, so maybe not...I am pregnant, but I'm not that out of it! So my point is...he's actually helping me do Jake's room - and he's NOT gay....that's the miracle!

But before I go on, I have to mention how freaking pedantic the guy is when I do stuff like this when I'm preggo. He goes a little OVERBOARD... like for eg. I'm not really a coke drinker...never really liked the stuff...in fact I don't really like fizzy drink (soda) much at all...but if we're traveling somewhere and I need and I say need a drink immediately...he won't let me take a sip of his coke...because it's 'bad' for you - HELLOOO - you're drinking it!!! just give me a darn drink of coke!....and then he remembers what it's like to say NO to a pregnant woman...and well lets just say...I'm not thirsty anymore!



so when I went to do Jake's star wars painting he literally refused to let me do it until he got a GAS MASK!!! I had one of those little disposable masks for when I'm sanding...thought that was just fine for the painting...but nooooooooooooo I not only had to immerse myself into a star wars painting I had to actually BECOME Darth Vadar himself...!!!!

...and I had to wear gloves (which I would have anyway - but I'm not admitting that to him!) and if he had a disposable body suit he probably would have made me wear that too!!!

...and the finished product...Jake and I are so excited...J. because he gets his painting...me because I can take the stupid gas mask off and cross another thing off my list of things to 'get around to' - oh and did I mention that it's glow in the dark too!!!

( and yes for any of you who look long enough you will see PLENTY of mistakes...heee but Jake hasnt' figured that out yet so I'm going with it...although then he did start demanding a spaceship...and I told him NO WAY this is it buddy!!)

lollipop kids...

I've been going through some old photos....found these that I took in October last year...

Jake's facial expressions totally make me laugh!!!

Sisters...and a brother...

On the photo shoot with -Mary- I also thought I'd actually make an effort this time round and get some pregnant pictures....ughghgh.

It's funny how different the kids are - they're both excited...my boy is very affectionate - he climbs into bed and always wants to feel the baby move in the morning. When I pick him up from school he runs to me and wraps his arms around me (well best he can) and give the baby a rub and kisses my stomach. My little girl on the other hand isn't so into the whole 'feeling' the baby move but will periodically come up during the day and say 'cuddles for the baby...and mummy'...and give my belly a hug...both are really cute about it...

Mary & I...

So about 12 mths ago Mary and I started talking about taking some photos together and reanacting some of the old mission photos...since we have some pretty hilarious ones together...but by the time we actually got around to making a date...I was pregnant and sick as a dog..so we postponed it...a few weekends ago we decided it was now or never...because these things can be so easily postponed since neither of us really care to be IN FRONT of the camera...but we got my husband to do his best...it was the middle of the day (the worst time for photos) but it had to fit in with his heavy work load that weekend...which gave us about a 2-3 hour window around lunch time...needless to say we had some fun...

I love the one (above) on the left....

donna hay....and a bit of bill...

so i had a girls day out on saturday...with Mary... (see last post). we have been waiting for the new donna hay store to open...it was set to open in march but opened 1st April...so we took the first opportunity...

...it was very quaint...just what i like...

....unfortunately, as was expected, the prices weren't exactly to my liking...gorgeous dessert glasses being around $41 each!

....i did come away with some cookie cutters and tea towels though...
they had everything from natural cleaning products to a kitchen with divine raspberry meringue teasers to taste!

...and this was our favourite display...(they're soy candles at the bottom)....anyone who's interested in a birdhouse decor...it will set you back approx. $235 for each birdhouse. :)

...it was worth the day out...Mary and I love donna hay (for you americans that have never heard of her...google her)... we ended our day out by having 'all day breakfast' at bills....(bill granger's...once again...if you don't know who he is...google is your best friend) ...all i can say is 'i love bill' - the food was excellent, we didn't have to wait long for a seat (being pregnant this is a matter of high importance!) and the pricing was even better...i don't think i saw anything over $20...!

...a visit...

...so i thought i might show you how much i've aged...because when you pull out photos from over 10 years ago that's ultimately what you're doing! some of you from T2 might remember that kim & i were somewhat inseparable...and we always knew that although we lived on opposite sides of the world, we would see each other again...and we have...each time I've been back to the states...she just happens to be living in the place that my husband has gone for work...this of course has been quite convenient for us!

....so FINALLY she made it down our way(with her husband & 4 kids!)...and of course that visit wouldn't be complete without a visit from Mary.


...don't knock the photo - it was 11pm at night...we were tired and were frankly having too much fun catching up to really care about taking photos...that and the fact that none of us wanted anyone seeing what we look like at 11pm at night!

...unfortunately Mary had to work the next day so we had to call it a night... I should clarify that statement... Mary needed to at least show up to work...not that she was really planning to do work... she will more likely be creating her igoogle page, creating a fake blog, reading my blog, and emailing me... similar to my day...only she's getting paid for it!

...the only thing that's missing from these photo's is kim's red glasses :)...yes the one's that had no lenses!

easter

...i broke a few of the easter eggs i made about 2 years ago...and i couldn't see my pregnant self blowing more eggs to decorate more...

...so i cheated and bought some to replace the ones i broke...

...reacquainted...

I grew up on these biscuits...with butter and vegemite...my sisters and I used to have competitions to see who could squeeze the biggest 'worms through the little holes...

I never buy these for some reason...and I saw them the other day while I was out doing the grocery shopping and thought.....hmm my kids are gonna lovvve these...so the last few days I've been getting reacquainted with them by teaching my kids how to squeeze 'worms' out of the holes....

...just because she can...

It's a baby.....of course!

Ok so some of you who are friends with my little sister too have been asking if my she has had her baby yet...since she is WAYYY past her due date...just to let you know - ....she had a little girl last night at 6:30pm - Cameryn Paige weighing in at 8pds 14 ounces (yes that's nearly 9 pound!!!) and 55cm long....photos to follow soon :)

...family wedding...

so my brother-in-law and his fiancee got married on friday...it was wet, wet, wet...but i did my best with the photos, all things considered. if you want to see more just click on the link to my photography blog.

Opportunities...

photography: unkown source

So by now I'm gathering most of you have heard about Victoria's bushfires...181 people so far have lost their lives and approximately 5000 have been left homeless. My family and I have been watching the news religiously to see the developments...for more reasons than one. My sister is in the midst of it...she lives right smack in the middle of the two worst effected areas and for the last week has been staying at her MIL's since Healesville (where she lives) is continually being put on high alert. Two fires are threatening to become one HUGE fire like the ones you see above...since my sister and her daughter are bad asthmatics the smoke and embers are wreaking havoc with them...plus not to mention she is 38 weeks pregnant...so we've been watching and checking in with her every day to make sure everything is ok.

Amidst this tv watching my kids have been taking a keen interest in what's happening. We talked with them about it and discussed with them how much people had lost and how it was an opportunity for us to help in any way we could. The kids started going through their toys and deciding which ones they wanted to give away to the kids who had nothing left...we went shopping for lots of colouring pencils and books, undies and pj's. There are distibution centres set up throughout sydney that we could drop the items off at...but just as we were doing this...Jake brought home a note from school - there were some parents driving down to Victoria this weekend to donate stuff - Jake was incredibly excited that his school was helping and so we took all the things we had collected down to the school....

I guess why I mention this - because it's not the usual stuff I like to blog about...(I don't like blogging about my personal epiphany's - they're mine to ponder over:) - but I was amazed at the toys that Jake and Layne were choosing to give away...they weren't the old toys they don't play with anymore...they were new toys...some were ones they had just received this past christmas! My first thought was...'you just got that...you can't give that away'...but I stopped myself from saying it because I realised that if I did say that to them I would be in effect telling my kids that it was alright to feel compassion and want to help - as long as they didn't have to go without as a result...!! They reminded me that 'giving' pretty much always requires some form of 'self-sacrifice'. They even went so far as to pay for some of the pj's and undies out of their own pocket money...

what can i say??? I LOVE my kids...

note: please note that from here on there are bound to be grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, etc in my posts...I'm pregnant...and there is no promise that it will get better once the baby arrives! :)