The world of a child

So I dyed my hair dark brown...I actually did it after just thinking about it for 18mths. Don't necessarily think that I will keep it this colour but I definitely think I will try a few different colours before I just go al natural again....and no: looking in the mirror at myself was not the most hilarious part of me getting my hair dyed....it was the reaction of Jake and Layne that couldn't stop Mike and I laughing....Mike picked me up from the hairdressers...and was walking toward me with the kids...Jake recognised me straight away and started laughing, running toward me and jumping up and down, holding himself, as he does...pointing at me and looking back at Daddy saying: 'haaa, look what mummy did daddy, heeee' - but what I noticed was that he was not so much laughing at me because he thought I looked funny but laughing at me that funny excited way he gets when he thinks something really naughty is going on and so wants to be a part of it. And then there was Layne. After looking at me with a 'NOT VERY IMPRESSED' look - when I actually got to her and said hello, she looked at me really weirdly and said: 'Mummy you take it off' when I told her I couldn't she then decided to go to the other extreme and cried in the car because she wanted to go back to the hairdressers and paint her hair pink!!!!!

Obsessive Fixations

From the time Jacob was 2...he's displayed obsessive qualities, like wanting to watch the same wiggles show over and over and over again...then it was Pooh Bear over and over and over again...his latest.....STAR WARS...with of course no help from his dad who has every star wars episode. So it was quite hard to monitor the watching of it since 'Dad' thought ALL the star wars movies were appropriate for a 4 year old...whereas 'Mum' had to disagree. Star Wars 3 was way too dark and there was no way I was going to let him watch it....there were times I caught 'Dad and son' being a bit naughty and trying to sneak it...so Mum had to do what she always does with the 'children' and hide it somewhere real good and threaten to throw it in the bin!!! Now I'm threatening to throw the Xbox in the bin...well....I'm talking about obsessiveness here so maybe I should say that I'm threatening to throw ALL 3 of the the xbox's in the bin! (yeah dad displays some of the same obsessive qualities)...we now have Star Wars Lego I & II - I think I'm about to go CRAZY!!!...although Jake does mix it up a bit, sometimes he'll play with his blocks and make STAR WARS space ships...then he might get the game 'chinese checkers' out and make STAR WARS space ship with the pegs...or he'll do some colouring and draw a....STAR WARS spaceship. As I was laying in bed on Wednesday recovering from being sick and trying to study for my exam on Thursday...I heard some funny conversations going on between Jake and Layne in their room...the funniest started out like this:
'Excuse me, Layne, I am Jedi Jacob and you are Princess Lay, lets go we need to get in the STAR WARS space ship'
Which brings me to another obsession they have....'EXCUSE ME'!!!! Yes, many people in passing say...'oh what wonderful manners they have'....yeah...uhuh....I taught them that thinking of the whole 'manners' thing in the first place....but completely forgetting about their obsessive qualities. Try having two kids saying 'excuse me' 500 times a day before every single sentence they start purely for the sake of saying it. I'm not so sure I'd really use the word 'wonderful'!!!!

Layne's 'somewhat of a' Birthday

So Layne's Birthday didn't turn out exactly as we had planned!!! Mike arranged for the day off so we could do something with the kids...Monday afternoon I kind of ruined that idea by getting sick...I tend to do that at the most inconvenient times. Along the flu, asthma and the muscular pain...I had a stomach bug, so I pretty much spent all of Tuesday in bed. Monday night I called Mike at work (he was on late shift...due home at 9pm) and told him he'd have to pick up a cake from the cheesecake shop for Layne, as I wasn't going to be able to make one. Layne realllllllly wanted a barbie cake so I figured we might be able to buy a cake and put a barbie on top, hoping that it would suffice and she wouldn't realise that it didn't look anything like the one she had picked out of the book. Mike's comment after calling him and telling him my dilemma was: 'My daughter wants her barbie cake, she'll get her barbie cake'. I wasn't really sure if that was a good thing or bad thing! He came home after work and stayed up till midnight making her the cake...I was very impressed, I must say and Layne just thought it was the best thing in the world!

I was so out of it I even forgot to get a photo of her blowing the candles out!

Hanging out at Darling Harbour

One of my best friends, Hope and her family came down from Queensland this week, so Shane could do some work here in Sydney...we all went to Darling Harbour in the city to hang out and do some shopping. The kids were soooooo excited to see each other again...Layne LOVES her 'big sister' Aleigha and Jake thought it was pretty cool seeing his best little mate...I never realised what great shoppers my kids were. I found THE most appropriate shirt for Jake - it says 'I tried to be good' - I just couldn't deny him that one. Anyway as we were wondering around the shop, Mike walked up to me and said so are you going to buy all those clothes on the counter? I looked at him a little bewildered and said 'They're not mine I haven't put anything on the counter yet....then we both looked over and here was Jacob picking what he wanted off the racks and taking it to the counter and telling the girl that 'mum wants to get that'....then I glance over at the other side of the store at Layne and she has another young girl that works there...getting a dress down from a higher rack because the other one that she had was 'too small' she needed a big one because she was a 'big girl' and as usual with Layne....NO ONE dares say NO - it wouldn't be pretty! This all gave Mike, Shane, Hope and I a pretty decent laugh watching them!

And this is what Jake was busy doing during most of those shots:

Best Mates:

Sharing Slurpies:

Prison Break

Mike went to work in a rush today because he was late...and locked the door after he left, which in itself I have always been 100% grateful that he has taken that little habit on, as Jake from the age of 18mths has enjoyed the art of escaping out any door he can open. The problem with today was that he accidently took both my keys and his keys to work with him...so I was literally a prisoner in my own home today. He doesn't get home till 9pm tonight so all plans I had to venture out of the house were promptly cancelled. I then kindly phoned my husband and told him that I thought the measures he had undertaken were unneccessary and extreme, and if he didn't want me to spend any money, all he had to do was ask...he had a good hearty laugh over that one...although I'm now considering that it may not have been a good thing to actually let him entertain the idea!! I eventually found one window unlocked in the lounge area, a package came and was left on the front door...so I pushed the screen out and got Jake to climb through and run around to the front door and get me the package...he thought it was a great plan and was thoroughly excited to be part of a prison break...although, once again upon reflection, maybe I should have waited for that package since I have now just shown Jake a way to escape from the house at will.

Flood Damage

Anyone for a swim?

So by now you've probably heard about all the wild weather that we've been having here. Sydney in my opinion has faired rather well compared to the Newcastle and the Hunter Region, where my family lives. It's a all a bit surreal really since I was in Newcastle on Wednesday night picking up my sister from her classes...walked down this street:

to go get something to eat while waiting for Ember and here is a picture of what it looked like 24hrs later!

I am lucky I travelled back to Sydney on Thursday, although it was heavy rain and starting to get bad...I left at 9am, driving carefully in the heavy rain and finally got back by 12pm...which meant that I missed the worst of it. Thursday evening and Friday were horrible...the wind was bad.

If you saw my last post you will have read that we went to Bondi and Bronte beach last week as well as Manly...here is what it's looking like now:

Bondi on the left and Bronte on the right! Lovely! (if you don't know by now that is my favourite word to say sarcastically!)

I'll do a slide show of the rest of the pictures that my sister, Alison, has sent to me. Her daughter's school has been flooded out...Anastasia is most upset she can't go to school...NOT!

Alison was most excited at 4am this morning waking up in hopes of their little house on a hill becoming her very own tropical island...but she was sadly disappointed....there were at least 20 other houses she has to share her island with!

My youngest sister, Melany, is supposed to be flying back to Melbourne tonight, if she can actually get to the airport...she timed her visit just right to get a quick preview of all the new tourist sites in the Hunter and Newcastle regions: collapsed bridges, people being evacuated, tankers running ashore...need I go on.

Bronte Beach

Dinner at Manly Beach

Last Saturday night we met up with Holly and had dinner at Manly Beach...one of my favourite places in Sydney! Layne spilt her drink all over herself - it was freezing - we managed to find some spare clothes of Jake's in the car to keep her warm! They love the beach, Jake wanted to go surfing...so much like his dad...and Layne just wanted to roll in the sand...NOT like her mum! :)

Holly, me, Jake & Layne Mummy and Layne

Jake & Layne

Playing in the sand Caught in a tackle

Come on big brother give me a smooch!

Site Seeing in the Blue Mountains

The last 2 weeks have been filled with alot of site seeing. One of my mission companions has moved to Canberra to work in the U.S embassy and came to Sydney for a weekend. An MTC buddy, Holly, is here in Sydney on business for a few weeks...so we've had heaps of catching up to do, combined with site seeing and lots of eating out (I love that part!).

The light was fading fast but Holly and Kiahna were able to have a quick look around up at the Blue Mountains and walk down to the 'Three Sister's (rock formation)...if you look closely you can see people walking across to the first rock - I chose to stay at the top and watch! Jake and Layne would have tried to walk along it like a balancing beam! No thanks!

Stressed??? Who me???

This year just seems to get busier and busier...admittedly I did take on Uni this year and that takes a little...sorry ALOT more organising. It seems that the weeks and days are not long enough to do everything there is to do. I have a truck load of uni work to do and exams to prepare for this month...sharing time to organise for Sunday, talks to prepare, speech pathology appointments for Jake to attend, and after a full day taking the kids on a train into the city to have lunch at Darling Harbour...I get home and find myself painting walls in the house??

Although there has been alot of stress, we have had alot of fun in the last two weeks with lots of friends staying and taking my missionary companions sightseeing while they are here in Sydney. My sister and her kids also came down from Newcastle last week and we took the kids to a chocolate factory in the Blue Mountains and had the most delicious hot chocolates. Then we took the kids to a petting farm and they got to go horseriding. The way home was filled with giggles and laughs from Anastasia and Beki in the back (which also involved a nose bleed) and the little ones....Layne, Claudia and Jake all falling asleep!