11 Today

Today is Zac's 11th Birthday. He was up early but had to wait for the others to wake up. He got clothes, pj's, a kite, Simpson Magazine Subscription and a Remote Control Meccano Car which he has to build and lots of money.

Opening Presents

Simpson's Problem Child PJ's - Perfect for Zac

The smile said it all - opening the remote control car

Mum.......NO MORE

There were lots of phone calls

Starting to build before school

Ready for School. This year was the first year he decided he was too old to take a cake to school. A bit sad really, just goes to show he is growing up.

And he even co-operated for a few minutes this afternoon. He wasn't too happy about having to comb his hair.

Happy Birthday My Big Boy.

What's been happening????

Zac lost Tee Ball on Thursday by 2 runs. He was not happy as he was run out by one of his own team members.

Friday night he had three friends over for a sleep over party for his birthday. The boys were really good. Just had to be told to be quite early hours of the morning. Zac then went to his friend Jack's house. Micalea had a friend over to stay.

Chris and I planted some more veggies. We now have lettuce, tomato's, herbs, onions, potato's, cucumbers, zuchines, watermelon, rockmelon and broccoli growing. (mmmm...think that's all!)

Chris went off to cricket and I went to a friends Linen Party. I got to cricket about 4.30. Chris had just got out for 106. I was so disappointed.....I missed it. It is a two day game. His team scored over 300. The other team bats next week.

Other news......I had another page accepted to be published in Scrapbooking Memories. It is of Jarred learning to sew. Must say it wasn't as exciting as the first time!!!

Have a great week.

46 not OUT

46 not out was not enought to win the game. Chris' team went into bat first. He was first drop. He hung around. Saw alot of partners get out. A good solid game on a warm day. Yes, warm!!! All the guys were complaining it was so hot. I sat in the sun the whole afternoon. It was wonderful. His team ended up with 6/162. The other team needed 5 an over. The fielding performance was very bad and lost them the game. Chris was really disappointed, it was a game they should have won!!



And a few pages from DIVA'S Pink ribbon Cyber Crop. Which was held over the weekend. All very pink.




Have a great week.

Thursday - Tee Ball

Today was Zac's first game of Tee ball for his school. It is an eight week competition after school. He will be playing around all the schools in Hamilton. He had lots of fun. Hit quite a few home runs. The match was tied at 29 each. And yes, I was the only one taking photo's!!!

About to smack a home run


Ready and waiting


Home safe (Just)

Long time

it's been a while........

The fence is all finished. And it is so much better.

Chris started cricket two weeks ago. The first week he scored 5 and they lost. Last weekend he scored 37 and got two wickets. He was also named man of the match. He was most impressed, but starting to feel a bit old. He is the oldest in his team by 8 years. The body is also starting to feel a bit out of condition.

Kloe has started Gymnastics on a Tuesday afternoon. She had lots of fun but was exhausted after it.

Zac starts Tee ball every Thursday, from this week.

Jarred is wonderful, as always.

Micaela hurt her finger yesterday playing volleyball at school. We spent a few hours at the hospital last night. Only to be told, they couldn't xray it until today. They strapped it for her and told her to take some panadol. We were back at the hospital today. Didn't have to wait, we were called straight in. Our neighbour is the radiographer. Jarred got to take the pictures, he thought that was so cool. Steve told us straight away it was broken and probably had torn the tendens. We then had to go back and see the doctor........where we waited for over two hours. Argh!!!! They were waiting on the results. Strapped her back up and sent us home. No sport or music for at least 4 weeks.

And me....I'm good. Someone has pressed the fast forward button on my life. And it has gotten very busy. Or is that the taxi service that runs back and forwards several times daily???? LOL

Enjoy your week.

Our Weekend

What a weekend. Grab a cuppa, this is a very long post. Boring maybe, yawn!!! But it is for my reference when I go to scrap it!!!

Saturday.
We started our day early packing our things and then all pilling into the car. It was about 3.5hrs to Avalon Airport where we dropped Nanna off for her flight back to Sydney. After taking Nanna in, we were all starving and headed for the nearest Macca’s. Tummies full, we went into Geelong for a drive around, to have a quick look. It was almost time for the AFL grand final to start so Dad was eager to find where we were staying and a TV set, to plant himself in front of. We stayed at Aberdeen Motor Inn in Geelong. We had a family room, which was well priced. Micaela and I left everyone behind watching the footy final and we headed for the shops. Geelong made the final and most of the town had shut up shop and gone to watch the final. The whole town was decorated in Blue and White. Streamers and balloons hung from almost every house and every shop was decorated with “Go Cats”. They aren’t called football mad Victorians for no reason. We didn’t have to be worried about missing the final, wherever we went there was a TV set on or a radio. We were kept up to date, while shopping. Kayla had fun in Supre, spending up. I managed to get Zac some much needed clothes. We headed back to everyone. We watched Geelong win the Grand final by 119 points. Which was the biggest win in grand final history. Everyone was hungry so we went in search of some dinner. There were mad Geelong supporters everywhere. Flags and scarves where flying from every car window. There were people in the streets. Dad got into the spirit (with lots of back seat encouragement) beeping the horn and cheering. The cheer of “more, more, more” was deafening. Everyone forgot their hunger and enjoyed the moment. You all wanted to keep driving around watching the mad, crazy Geelong supporters. We ended up going through the drive through at KFC and eating while driving. It’s so funny you kids are easily entertained. You didn’t want to go back to where we were staying. You wanted to keep driving. The fans around Skilled Stadium were really going off and not allowing cars to pass unless you were honking your horn and cheering. It was crazy! But it was so much fun. Finally with lots of protest we headed back. Everyone enjoyed watching “Racing Strips” on telly before all going to sleep. It was surprisingly quite with only the occasional horn honking to be heard during the night

Sunday

Once one, was awake we were all awake. After getting dressed we went the Macca’s for breakfast. Jarred was really excited as we never have brekkie out. We then headed to Werribee Open Plains Zoo. We enjoyed a 45-minute bus tour around the Zoo looking at all the animals. After our tour we headed off, on foot to the monkey enclosure in time for the ranger talk. Then it was onto the Lion enclosure for another talk. Jarred was so fascinated with these gorgeous creatures. They were all very lazy, lying on the grass. Off to see the hippo’s. The girls walked through the hippo walk. The kids all got a chocolate hippo and puzzle board from the keepers. Jarred and Kloe had lots of fun playing on the hippo play area. Chris got a bit of a fright when he put his hand inside the hippo skull and it started making noise. We then went to see the cheetahs. Then it was off to the Volcanic Plain Walk to see the birds, emus and kangaroos. We had a quick look at the souvenir shop and then headed back to the car.
Jarred’s Favourite – lions, Kloe – all of the animals, Zac and Dad – the Rhino, Kayla and Mum –Giraffe and Zebra's

We went into Werribee to get a late lunch. We went back to Geelong, driving along the foreshore. We parked the car and looked at the wooden people. Jarred and Kloe discovered the Carousel. The carousel is over a hundred years old and is housed in a huge glasshouse. Dad had to ride with Jarred. Your faces were beaming. You loved every minute of it. Dad got a bit dizzy!!! We went for a walk down the Cunningham Pier. We didn’t get far before the howling wind and rain made us find shelter. By this time we were all a bit tired and decided to head back. The boys went back out to Rebel to pick up some Cricket supplies while Kayla, Jarred, Kloe and I enjoyed a lazy afternoon with the telly on and a magazine. Kloe and Jarred amused themselves with the small boxes of breakfast cereal. They used them as blocks and were making castles with them. Footy grand final time again. NRL this time, Manly V’s Melbourne Storm. Dinner is biscuits, dip, cheese, salami and cheese in front of the telly watching the final. The Storm won the grand final, which we were all happy about, seeing we are all Victorians now.

Monday

It was a bit of a late start. We had planned on being on the road by 8am. We all managed to drag ourselves out of bed at 8am. Even Mr Early bird, awake at 6am (Jarred) was snoozing. Brekkie was a much healthier cereal, fruit and yoghurt. We finally found a supermarket. We drove around Geelong for the past few days, without being able to find a supermarket, it was really strange. I ended up picking a few things up in Werribee) On the road again!!! Chris decided it would be good for us to take the scenic route home and go home the long way, via the Great Ocean Road. We had only gone about 10 minutes down the road before Jarred wanted to know if we were home yet?? We stopped at Bell’s Beach. It was cold and blowing a gale, but there were people still surfing. After getting back in the car Jarred started to say his tummy was sore. Biscuit box and a plastic bag was made ready just incase. The road became really tight and twisty. Then the signs Micaela, Jarred and I all hate, the ones that say Next 60kms twisty!!!!! Poor Jarred was sick three times along the way. He wanted to stop driving and go home. We were trying to tell him we had to drive to get home. We travelled over 200kms of twisty turny road. The scenery was gorgeous. We stopped at the twelve apostles. It was cold and it was so windy. We were almost blown away. I kept telling everyone to hold onto Kloe, I was scared she was going to be blown away. The twelve apostles was somewhere Chris and I have always wanted to go. Another thing ticked off the list. And the Great Ocean Road will be one of those……. been there done that roads, that I never want to go on again. Chris and Zac plan to travel it again, Chris thinks in an MX5. The boys have iron guts!!! We had lunch at Port Campbell before getting back in the car and heading home. We had a fantastic weekend with lots of fun and good quality time together.



Bell's Beach

The Twelve Apostles

Off to the Big Smoke

Today is Mum's last day here. Tomorrow we leave early, for the Big smoke to take her back to the airport. Now the other week I had this bright idea we would stay in Melbourne for the weekend and go to the Zoo. Well Mum picked a great weekend to go home. It's grandfinal weekend....do you think I could find accomodation in Melbourne. Not a chance!!! So we decided, as she was flying out of Avalon (Geelong) we would have a look at what was available there. We booked ourselves into a place in Geelong. Don't know what it is going to be like, seems a bit to good to be true. Cheap accomodation for six is very, very hard to find. Anyways........Geelong made the AFL grandfinal, so we think it is going to be very loud in Geelong over the weekend. Don't think we will be getting a lot of sleep, if they win. We are still going to the Zoo. It's about 50 minute drive from Geelong. Jarred and Kloe have never been to the zoo. So they are very excited.

Cinderella was awesome. We had front row seats, so we were right in the action and name calling. Zac was called a double wart, Jarred was called a worm, the ugly stepmother pretened to vomit all over Kloe and Nanna was asked to be Mrs Charming. It was fantastic. Jarred and Kloe were up dancing. The music was the latest hits and even Micaela was singing and bopping away.

And a few things I have been making this week. Free online class and Challenge's from Diva's

Have a great weekend. Go the CATS!!! and the STORM!!!

This is what I have to live with.......

Hey Mum look at me. This is my boy, always up to no good and fooling around. We bought himself some plastic teeth. Is this why he was born on Halloween?????

We are off to see Cinderella today. Jarred is almost bursting out of his skin. We are in the front row. Hopefully he doesn't get scared.

Have a great day.

I DID IT

What you ask?

I got accepted.

Accepted to be published in 'For Keeps' scrapbook magazine.

I was accepted to be published earlier this year. I missed the deadline because of our move. I got the message about two weeks, too late. I was so happy to be accepted, but so sad because I missed out. I tried a few times after that and got rejected, so I stopped submitting. I hated the rejection letters that came back. The other day I thought 'what the heck' and sent a few pages in. And last night when I checked my mail there it was 'Congratulations you have been accepted to be published' I did the happy dance, all with strange looks from the kids (Chris was at cricket training) they just don't get it!!!

The page is of Kloe and Anzac for their 'Pets issue' it is a real simple page, the photo is so cute. It is not one of my favourite pages, it's OK. Just goes to show what you think is good, is not what they do. So for now I will do the happy dance and wait the few months for it to come out.

And in other news. I have been planting....... still. I put two standard roses in yesterday and six camelia's. It was a beautiful day. Today is back to normal, overcast and rain. We were planning on going to the park today. I think it will be an inside craft/movie day. Tomorrow we are off to see a stage production of 'Cinderella'. We are all looking forward to that. And hopefully they will do the other fencing tomorrow. They were suppose to be here on Tuesday, but have been delayed on another job. So fingers crossed it will be tomorrow. Can not wait. We will not have to walk all the way around to the veggie garden and we won't have to look at a horrible fence anymore.

Enjoy the rest of the week.

Tired, Sore.....but very Happy

It's been a very busy weekend. We are both walking like cowboys. The kids are laughing at us. Our legs our so sore. But I'm happy to report we are DONE. We started about 8.30am Saturday and stopped when we run out of light about 7.10pm. We did the majority of planting on Saturday. Finished off the rest on Sunday and watered. The watering was a big effort. Carting water in buckets (thanks goodness for the trailer on the ride-on)

This is 500 trees (Seedlings) believe it or not, we both had to count twice to make sure it was right. Each tray contains 40. Doesn't look a lot does it???? (Tell that to my legs!!)



And this is what it looks like. And no they aren't straight. I wanted it to look a bit more natural, not just trees in straight lines.

That's our house in the distance


And look what we came out to see on Saturday morning. Our first ever bulb, has flowered. It is an Iris and isn't it gorgeous. Chris is very proud. And we have tulips, just about to flower.....so exciting. We have spent so much time in the garden and are just starting to see the results. So worth while.


And the gorgeous girls. Yes the COWS, they are so cute. They followed us around all weekend, watching us plant trees. They really like me at the moment. I cut the grass today with the catcher and gave them the grass. They were standing at the fence MOO.....ing at me for more. They even let me pat them.



And lastly our trees look like this. Not very exciting yet. Just a whole lot of silver things in the distance. At least it makes our property line more visible now.

Trees, trees and more trees

I've been a bad blogger this week!!! Have you missed me?????


Yay!!! School holidays....no more packed lunches for two weeks.


This afternoon we went and picked up our 500 trees. We have 5 different varities. Large, Medium and small. Chris, Jarred and I got to work. We managed to plant about 30 before it decided to rain on us. We didn't get alot of rain, but enough to stop our planting. It was to cold to stay out in the rain. Once the rain cleared we had to cart buckets of water, to water our little trees in.

Tomorrow inbetween taking kids to friends and shops, we will continue with our planting. As most of you know, this is something that we have planned since we moved into this house. We had a lots of prepartion work to do and then we had to wait until it was the right time to plant. It is so wonderful to actually start the 'doing'.

Footy on tonight, Chris has gone over to our neighbours to watch the game. They are all mad Maggie Supporter, so it will be very noisy. We are planning on watching a movie, in peace. Eating sticky date pudding and icecream. Yum!

A few pages from the week. Don't you love the pic of Micaela, it was a self portrait. I love it.

Have a great weekend. We will be having a Treeiffic one!!! LOL!!

Busy, Busy.... creating

It has been a very busy weekend. Kloe had a bee in her bonnet on Saturday and she wanted to 'create'. She had got all of her craft books out on Friday night and planned what she was going to do. First on the list was caterpillars. She spent the whole day Saturday making things. Of course Jarred couldn't miss out.

I saw this cool slip cover cubby house on a blog the other day and had to give it ago. I quickly sewed it up on Saturday afternoon. I wasn't allowed to finish it, as soon as I tried it on the table, I had two little ones inside playing. I don't think they cared that the threads had to be cut or it had to be ironed. I would like to add a window and some detail on it. They decided to sleep in it on Saturday night, so I guess it was a hit.

We had someone come and spray all the weeds and grass around the outside of our property on Saturday. Ready for us to plant 500 trees next weekend. Yes, you read right 500. Bruce brought the eight cows over, they are in cow heaven with all the green grass.

On Satruday night Chris and I went out together for the first time together in about a year (you know....alone, without any kids)

And yesterday we were working on a outdoor cubby for the kids. We have all this black plastic piping that was here when we bought the house. Chris had this wonderful idea, he would make a round base with a pointed top, like a teepee It was cold, rainy and blowing a gale. We built the base in the shed and just managed to get it inside for me to work on the cover. It's really big and we just fitted it through the double doors at the front. Let's just say we have a few design problems that have to be worked out.........I'm not happy with the results so far, and it will drive me crazy until we get it right. (or was that the kids driving me crazy, trying to play in it while I was trying to get the cover to work!!!) Will show you the end results.

Have a great week.