The Adventures of Amber and Aidan!

Circus magic!

2012-01-06T03:40:00.001+10:00

It has been a long time since I went to a real circus, and what fun we all had. It has certainly changed as there are no Elephants or Lions and that is a good thing, as the thought of those poor animals being dragged from one city to the next is just down right cruel in my opinion.

Amber had been pleading for us to take her from the moment she saw the huge blow up clowns that were inflated in every possible spot that you could fit one as you drove along the road. I am so glad that she talked us into it though, as it has been a long time since I have been thrilled and amazed like that!

Yes the kids had too much sugar and they talked us into those over priced glowing swords and wands but the looks on their faces were gold and just made me get all excited and giddy all over again.

So if you are lucky enough for the Moscow Circus to roll into your town, grab your husband and the kids and go! We all had a ball and was lovely to sit back and be entertained and to enjoy the thrill and magic or pure entertainment.

Aidan spent the evening gobsmacked, that alone was worth the price of admission!

The look on Amber's face says it all, when she tried to talk daddy into a ride on the carousel, I am pretty sure you know what the answer ended up being!

I am not sure whether it was the light sabre or the circus that made him the happiest!

Sorry I had to include the last photo, the look on Amber's face just cracks me up!

Our little ballerina!

2012-01-03T02:46:00.001+10:00

Well Christmas is over and the new year has begun! I'm still wondering where 2011 went, but that is getting older for you, the years keep coming and the blur just keeps getting stronger and stronger!

2012 was a difficult year, but it was a year of change and of learning to let go. Some friendships disappeared and some forged a stronger bond. It is the hard times that make you appreciate and to be thankful for the things that you have and I have never been more thankful of an amazing partner, two beautiful and ever so loving children and family and friends that live near and far that have been my rock and that have challenged me to be a better person and love me no matter what.

There were a couple of little highlights that I am more than a little proud of though and a couple that I could happily erase but what fun would that be, so just in case i forget here they are:

This was the first year that Amber went for her Royal Academy of Dance Exam, and I cannot tell you how nervous I was for her! Last year we were all geared up to do the exam and I mixed up the dates and we arrived a day later, to say I was devastated would be a slight understatement! Lucky my girl was ever so amazing about the whole thing and gave her mummy a big hug and told me that it is not the end of the world (famous last words she has heard countless times from me!) and that life will go on, and so it did!

Well I am so proud of my girl as she went in this year with such confidence and poise. She amazes me with her love and joy of performing and with her lack of nerves, she leaves me for dead in those stakes. We had too wait way to long for the results to come back from London but it was well worth the wait! I couldn't open up that envelope at first, things were running through my head about what would I say if she failed, how would I hide my disappointment, I should of had more faith in my daughters abilities because i couldn't have been prouder in the end. She always tries so hard in everything she does and on more than one occasion in the many things she has done she has learnt to be graceful in defeat! And that is such a hard lesson to learn. So in my eyes she is a winner because of her amazing attitude to life and for giving it a go and never giving up.

She ended up receiving a Distinction in her graded Exam and I have to laugh because every time she has told someone about her results she struggles with the pronunciation of the word, thankfully she knows what she is doing with her feet otherwise people might think that when she is referring to her results that she is actually a dinosaur and heading towards extinction not a distinction lol!

That wasn't her only achievement this year, she also earlier in the year won a trophy at Little Athletics for the most improved athlete for the under 7's and under 8's. There is that never give up attitude i was talking about, she is by no means perfect though and we do have tears sometimes over certain performances, but it is a wonderful lesson about life.

Amber is absolutely loving art at school and did very well on the arts and sports side of things on her report, she wants to be an art teacher when she grows up, so I guess she is on the right track. She loves reading and I can't believe how far that she has come since the beginning of Year 1 when she could only read a handful of words to full blown chapter books now.

Aidan is like a little sponge and enjoys trying to keep up with his big sister. We have just started him on Reading Eggs and he is loving every minute of it! Watch out Amber here comes Aidan! He is certainly an active little boy and is always on the search for a good looking stick or rock to poke things with or throw. He is such the little investigator and such the little mess maker while on his investigations. I guess we need to prepare ourselves for another busy year.

He loves telling everyone how bad they have been when they do something they shouldn't and that they are naughty! He so makes me laugh and to be ultra aware of what comes out of my mouth because you know he is going to redirect his newly aqquired opinions onto anyone that will listen, don't you just love little parrots!

Toilet training has not been too successful this year just past. He has the ability and has proven on many occasions that he is more than capable but, he is just so darn lazy. He will go and find a nappy and tell me that he has had enough now and would like me to put one on him. Going to the bathroom is such an inconvenience when you have sticks and stones to search for!!!!!

So as we head into the unknown future of 2012 I am excited and just a little bit nervous about what we are about to face. But isn't that what life is all about and truly I wouldn't want my life mapped out for me, because what kind of fun would that be any way. And just think of the adventures that you might miss out on. The beauty of life to me is the surprise element, the unknown, the excitement in what is hiding around the next corner.

So I wish everyone a 2012 full of love, surprises and maybe just a little sprinkle of fairy dust. DREAM BIG AND LOVE EVEN BIGGER, THAT CORNER IS AWAITING!

Brisbane light show!

2011-11-30T19:02:00.000+10:00

I have been slightly afraid of night photography even after my photography course, pulling out a tripod makes me feel like I am some sort of professional, not someone that has their training wheels on! It also doesn't help when your tripod is an antique and instead of keeping your camera still tends to wobble! I have a new tripod now thanks to my husbands parents, but I haven't had a chance to test drive it yet, I am sure this holidays an opportunity will arise!

So why venture out into the twinkling lights of night time???? I adore city lights at night, ever since I was little some of the my most precious memories are driving into the city to see the Christmas lights in the windows and lining the streets, they just seem to evoke some kind of magical land to me and they still do!

I just love and adore Christmas time, driving the streets and admiring all the houses adorned in sparkling magical lights. Now I just need to work on taking a good shot at night, so I can capture those moments forever!

I am very frustrated with the below photos but I am learning and by taking the leap and heading out at night with my tripod and a lot of patience I am hopefully one step closer to nailing what so far has been allusive to me!

I am posting the below photos so I can learn and hopefully look back on an improvement in months to come!
What do they always say, if at first you don't succeed try, try again! And it is a wasted day when you do not learn something new!

I found this wonderful quote:

Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily. ~Thomas Szasz

2011-11-21T23:12:00.000+10:00

What can I say, we are half way through November and I am only just blogging about Halloween! Not bad for me really, sometimes it takes years lol! Halloween is only just starting to take off her in Australia and I would be hard pressed to find a house down our street that would be decorated up and invite two little trick or treaters in the front gate! So to dress my kids up and send them out might result in a very traumatic result of no candy(hey that might have been a great plan!) and maybe a few tears.

So lucky for me, my sister had kindly invited us to a street party with willing houses putting a balloon out the front so you don't receive any surprise, unwanted visitors arriving on your doorstep yelling out - "Trick or Treat!". This was the second year that my sisters street had run with Halloween and the willing houses has nearly doubled, which was very exciting for my two!

Thanks Jen for making two little people more than happy and who have now been living on a sugar high over the last couple of weeks, we still have a little stash left in our pumpkin baskets.

I hope everyone had a spooktacular Halloween!

Excuse the green pants on my little devil (so appropriate......dressing up as a little devil), I was lucky to get the costume on him as before he realized that lollies were part of the deal, he was not keen to take part! Do you like the candy bracelet, very 2011 I think!

Disco inferno!

2011-11-18T21:07:00.002+10:00

How much fun are school disco's!

I know one big 7 year old that had a ball!

There was face painting (this is where I spent most of the night) and crazy hair and a whole lot of dancing and running around!

We had a big sports carnival during the day and then ended the Saturday night with a disco, how much more enjoyment can you fit into a day!

Even though my legs were killing me and some lucky girl above went home with the best dressed year two it turned out to be a pretty close to perfect and impossibly fun Spring day!

How cool is that DJ, he certainly got the young ones clapping and a couple of bigger children also!

Then we went home, and mummy got to play with her camera! A dress up costume, two excited and willing models one with crazy pink and yellow hair, and a model that wasn't quite as willing but didn't have much choice(lucky he can't talk and his tail was still wagging at the end, tiara and all)!

We had so much fun and I had the chance to play with the flash verses high ISO and with a multitude of posses! Now all I need is photoshop or something similar and to take a course so I know how to use it, so I can edit my photos

I feel the more I seem to learn about photography the more things I really don't know and need to learn! At least I am having fun along the way!

I hope everyone has a rockin' weekend!

My cranky puss!

2011-11-16T12:11:00.000+10:00

Don't mess with the angry smurf! What would you do if your little gremlin had a face like this??? I try very hard not to laugh!!!!! Now I just need to learn how to channel that anger into something productive, any ideas???? Have a smurfy day!!!

Breathing in Spring!

2011-11-14T10:43:00.002+10:00

We only have a small window of time before spring is gone and summer has appeared in Brisbane. Every year I vow to stop what I am doing and go outside and just breath it in, as I just adore this time of the year! The coolness in the early evening and the chirping of baby birds! Flowers spring up all over the place and big beautiful trees showing us just how grand they can be!

I might not have taken it all in as much as I wish, but I cherished the strolls along our neighboring streets and just stopped to enjoy it all for just a second! Perfect!

On a final note, that prickly pear took its revenge on me, when I came a little too close, lets just say that Aidan and myself spent the rest of the afternoon removing unwanted and annoying prickles from what felt like every part of our body lol! P.S. Thanks Cathy for the tip off about the Prickly Pear even if it got me lol!

What do I spy down the bush track????

2011-10-11T00:59:00.002+10:00

The last couple of weeks have been hard in some ways! But there is a magical place just around the corner that is our own little secret Australian Garden! Where special little treasures are just waiting to be discovered and you can just feel the stress melting away!

Spring is in the air and the animals are telling us how wonderful and special this time of the year truly is!

It is even more magical when you can share it with your favorites and sometimes, just sometimes the magic will linger on into the night!

I hope you have a magical day!!!!!

Our little mans 3rd Birthday!

2011-10-10T19:16:00.002+10:00

Well it was windy and crazy day but a huge improvement on Aidan's 2nd Birthday that was at a park! Unfortunately September last year was the start of the terrible floods we had in Brisbane so his 2nd birthday was very overcast and we all huddled under a rotunda while the rain came down, thankfully this didn't bother the kids one little bit, bring on the puddles! You think I would have decided to move his birthday indoors this year but I am so glad we didn't! Having a party outside is just so much fun and ever so easy even if just slightly challenging!

As you can guess it was a smurf party, my two are just slightly obsessed, ok they are over the top obsessed so that called for excessive amounts of blue! The cake was a hit with the kids, actually it was the jelly that excited them! Maybe I should have just had a bowl of jelly with smurfs going for a dip, would have been a whole lot easier! I basically cheated this year anyway and used a ready made sponge cake, mind you the hard part is decorating in my opinion but luckily my kids are crazy for them so there were a lot laying around for me to pick from!

Chicken and chips seemed like the perfect thing to serve and they went down a treat! Lets just say there were lots of left overs though (slight over cater, that's not like me at all) and we were still eating chicken and chips days later, lucky it was yummy!

I found it so much more enjoyable and relaxing having someone else cater and it was lovely to have time to just enjoy my family and friends outside rather than inside organizing and cooking and running party games!

It made the afternoon delightful and nothing to clean up afterwards, what more can a mummy ask for!

It is not just my children that love the little blue creatures I was quite taken with them when I was young and had a few kept as keepsakes that my daughter discovered 12 months ago, that is what started the love affair and the movie this year just put fuel on the fire so to speak lol!

David's dad brought a metal detector along for a little treasure hunting which was great!

The only game requiring organization was pass the parcel, Wellington Point, a ball, a few bubble wands, a tree and a play area provided the fun for the rest of the day!

Who knew Bubble Wands had more than one use!

Dog soccer anyone!

How about football in a tutu!

Aidan turned into a monkey(well at least that is what he kept telling me when I asked him to come down)!

"I am not Aidan mummy I am a monkey!" So you are, my big 3 year old monkey, so you are!

Put a smile on your face even if you would rather be at home watching the football!

Or the forbidden love affair, the kissing cousins! Aidan just adores his cousin, he cries every time Makayla leaves him! It is so cute and so so adorable!

Three gorgeous girls!

The day was abruptly finished by dark rain clouds that were brewing over head, so we said goodbye to some balloons and big hugs all round, for a wonderful day by the water! It might not have been the most perfect weather, but it was perfect to me because we were surrounded with people we love big and small to celebrate a little man that I truly adore!

And that is something to be truly thankful for!

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY MY DEVINE LITTLE MONKEY WE LOVE EVERY LITTLE INCH OF YOU ALWAYS AND FOREVER!

Stradbroke!

2011-08-31T00:40:00.002+10:00

We went to Stradbroke Island a couple of weeks ago for a friends 40th birthday and lets just say I have been busting to use my new camera at the beach since I purchased it!

When packing up for the trip this is what went through my head..................."Should I pack the charger for the camera?..........No it should be fine this battery rocks and I have never run out of power yet!...........................Mind you my photography teacher said never leave home with out a spare battery, you never know when you might need it!" Famous last words and why did I not heed the warnings in my head, because I love tempting fate and fate won!

So you can guess what happened when I finally made it down to the beach................yes that is correct my battery ran out of power and all those gorgeous sunset photos and photos of my children in the sand well that is where they will have to stay..............in my head!

Oh well at least we had a fabulous time at our friends place and now that my husband has finally made the trip over and fallen in love with this stunning Island we might have a chance at coming over here again and again and again and next time, well next time I will bring my camera, charger and hopefully a spare battery!

That was by no means the import reason for making a trip to Stradbroke and we had such a wonderful time catching up with friends and it is sad in away that we cannot commit more time to such wonderful friendships! Thanks James, Vicki and girls for such a great weekend! We are looking forward to coming over again soon and having a good catchup!

xx

How gorgeous are these puppies, they are not ours but we couldn't resist having a photo with them!

This was the coolest swing at our friends place, the kids played on it for hours!

I am starting to think we might need to purchase a guitar!

My little pirate!

2011-08-29T13:23:00.001+10:00

After a tough couple of weeks it has been lovely catching up on missed blog posts and catching up with my family from around the world! I still feel drained and exhausted after the loss of my friend, so it was lovely to read this post by one of my favourite bloggers Becky and her fantastic joke about Santa, go check it out and thanks for making my day Becky, it was so nice to smile again!

Something else that put a smile on my dial was my Aidan with his pirate patch and moustache, you rock my world little man and I just love you to pieces! He wasn't too sure about that moustache, so it didn't stay on for very long and well that eye patch lets just say in very true Aidan style it is now on top of the mending pile!

Loss!

2011-08-28T01:56:00.002+10:00

I am feeling so numb at the moment, after attending the funeral of one of my most beautiful friends and her family I am at such a loss! Unfortunately after a year long battle with cancer Adrian at the young age of 35 passed away! He has left his new bride and two beautiful and gorgeous little girls behind!

I hurt for the things they will never get to experience! I hurt that the girls won't have a father to walk them down the isle one day! I hurt that they will never have another daddy cuddle to make things better! I hurt that my friend has lost her soul mate! I hurt that every time something amazing happens that she will run up to share it with him in the split second before the realisation of the truth clouds her thoughts and sadness once again takes over!

Its the little things that will bring sadness, the loss of comfort and joy, the missed glances and the shared laughter! I wish with all my heart that I could take their pain away, but I am so thankful that they had that time as a family as painful as it was! I am thankful that they have a very supportive and loving family and an amazing community of friends to lean on but that can only bring so much comfort, the hard times will be in the quite and still of the night or waking up in the morning to roll over and realise they are not beside you!

I have never met someone so strong and brave, I am so proud to be your friend and just know I will be by your side now and always! Ella and Olivia are like my daughters and I want you to know that we are here for you no matter what!

Love always xx

Coming home!

2011-08-20T20:17:00.000+10:00

Things I am thankful for!

A good friend of mine that has been living in the U.K for several years now is home for good......yaah!!!

She has been my dearest and my best friend since we where in year 4 together and no matter the distance or if we haven't spoken for ages when we see each other again or speak everything just clicks back into place like we have never been apart!

Tracey's parents have a property just out of Brisbane, and we managed to spend a perfect day out at there place celebrating their arrival home! They have a donkey and a horse that the kids loved feeding, actually I love, love, love donkeys, they are just the coolest animal! I just wanted to take him home!

The kids amused themselves with a hose and a Frisbee with an hilarious out come and lots of fun along the way for the big and small variety alike!

Aidan just loves his cousins, mind you he doesn't look to impressed in the below photo! He continually talks about Makayla, if he had it his way he would visit her everyday! I sure I hear daily basis as we head out to the car, "Are we going to Makayla's?" followed by tears when he finds out we are not!

My gorgoeus friends Tracey and Adam!

My gorgeous family!

Tracey's brothers cool dog!

Amber dressed like she is off to the races not a bbq in the country lol!

Amber looking for the frisbee!

Just had to end the post with that spunky donkey.........................he is just too cute for words! It is like the donkey is saying ".....and that's all folks!"!

One Perfect Day!

2011-08-18T01:01:00.005+10:00

Gold Coast

Winter

Sunshine

Laughter

Play

Smiles

Misty

Trouble

Hazy

Dreamy

Curious

Strong

Hopeful

Thirsty

Refreshing

Exploring

Fish and Chips

Fun

Safety

Waiting

Tempting


Dreaming

A Perfect

Afternoon! Wilbur is ours!

Meet Wilbur the Great!

2011-08-17T23:15:00.001+10:00

Well it has taken me a week to post about our new little family member but it has been a hard week full of loss and tears, but I will post about that soon, when everything is not so raw and painful!

It has taken me a year and a half to grieve over the loss of our Snoop! Snoopy had a personality plus, didn't really like very many people but he was loyal beyond the call of duty, he adored David and myself, so it was hard making the decision to add the right kind of pouch to our brood!

Amber was so desperate for a dog and I had already made her wait and prove that she could look after a pet with her fish, which on most days she remembered to feed lol! We decided the life of a puppy was not our cup of tea, been there done that, to much pain with chewing and weeing everywhere! So adopting a young dog seemed like the right thing for our family!

This process did not come pain free I have to tell you! We had our heart set on a little Maltese cross Terrier named Reece that we found online with Pet Rescue(they give animals a second chance through foster care which is a wonderful way to find a new family member) and my daughter Amber was beside herself when we finally got to meet her!

So we drove out to meet Reece and fell in love with her! We were informed that another family was booked in to meet her the next day and we would have to wait to find out which family would take her home! This is where the whole thing went sour for us! We tried so hard not to get Amber's hopes up and mine for that matter, so when we found out she went to the other family, there were tears and sadness!

It made me re-evaluate the whole process, and if this was the right process for our family to find a pet! I wrote a letter to Pet Rescue telling them that we felt this process was to sad for us to continue with as I didn't think I could handle fixing up my daughters broken heart every time we missed out on what we thought was the perfect dog for our family!

I received a lovely email from Simone saying how terribly sorry she was and how hard it is sometimes to make such decisions!

I left it at that for a couple of days, but when I have my mind set on something I just can't let it go sometimes! This is where my focus kicked in(some call this obsessive compulsive behaviour, I am sure my husband calls this boarder line crazy)! I was on a mission to find the perfect dog for our family! It took me exactly one week and road trips from one side of the city to the other meeting many, many dogs lol, and I was starting to think maybe I should check myself into the insane asylum!

Some of our meetings with some of the pooches and their carers where not exactly the things that dreams are made of! We had an experience with one foster carer that was just boarder line rude and I think we nearly drove to the other side of Australia to meet this dog, got lost had no service on our phone it was getting dark and we were feeling flat when she basically sent us away without meeting the dog(by the way this meeting was organized by Pet Rescue only an hour before, so we didn't drop in unannounced, it was not their fault though!)!

This is when I nearly gave up! Thankfully I didn't and we booked ourselves in to meet just three more dogs and if I didn't meet a lovely little furry creature then I was going to give things a break for my own and my family's sanity!

Well the next three animals and families we met that were fostering the dogs were divine, beautiful families and gorgeous dogs! We knew we had to make a decision fast as I didn't want to miss out again! The last dog we met was Wilbur and we travelled down to the Gold Coast to meet him approximately an hours drive from home! WE all fell in love with Mr. Wilbur, knowing that another family was about to meet him, I texted(thank goodness for technology) Pet Rescue saying we loved both Wilbur and Issy from the day before and we would love either dogs to be part of our family and then we went down the beach(no point wasting a trip to the Gold Coast) and hoped and prayed that we might get a phone call before we returned home!

Thankfully we didn't have to wait to long before we received the exciting phone call to say we now had a new family member and we could go pick him up now and bring him home with us today, to save us another trip down!

I am so thankful that I continued on because we got our fairytale ending! His carer Soni is the most gorgeous lady, she has been in touch over the last two weeks and was and still is amazing with any advice or just kind words! So after a torturous start I would have to say it has certainly been worth every painful and glorious second! There are so many animals out there looking for a home, that just need to be loved and given a second chance! I am so glad we stuck with it and didn't give up!

Now after all my babble, let me introduce our new little family member! His name is Wilbur and he is what you call a bitsa, a bit of this and a bit of that, he is not a purebred and he was classified as a Shih Tzu x Terrier! We all think he looks a little like Benji! He is very furry, very scruffy, very sweet, well behaved and toilet trained and just so darn cute! The vet thinks he is around 4 years old and he just loves anything that moves, he will play with cats, dogs big and small and loves the kids they could do absolutely anything to him without complaint!

We have had one slight little problem with him, as he was a flood victim with the Queensland floods(very sad to think that some family lost there poor family pet) he is still getting used to his name! So unfortunately we have had a handful of incidents where Wilbur has escaped and run off down the road throwing caution to our pleas for him to stop! We have a very busy road a street away from our place and he came awfully close to being run over and just lets say I ran faster than I have run since I was young and thankfully I stopped him just in time! To say I am traumatised would be an understatement, and lets just say he has lost all front door privileges without a lead for a little while until we can confidently call his name and know that he will come back! I am way to terrified we will lose him again!

Anyway we love our little furbaby to bits and are so blessed that he is now part of our very own forever family!

We would certainly recommend giving a foster dog or animal a second chance it is such a wonderful and rewarding way of finding a pet and you are doing something kind for the already over populated pet population in this world!

Welcome to the family Wilbur, you gorgeous fluff muffin, we are so happy you have joined us!

Basil's Brush!

2011-07-19T01:47:00.001+10:00

It takes me such a long time to get around to posting special memories sometimes, I think I get caught up reading all the wonderful blogs that I follow, that I just run out of time! Sad I know, but very true! We were lucky enough back in late February to have a family holiday at basilsbrush in the Byron Bay hinterland and by family holiday I mean family.......parents, aunties, uncles, grandparents and loads of children and thankfully we all just managed to squeeze ourselves in there!

This place is just magic there is no other word for it and apart from my poor brother in law having a terrible incident with his bike and the steep gravel drive way(lets just say he didn't get back on his bike for a little while) an incredible time was had by all!

I only wish our five day stay was longer as there was still so many things we never got a chance to do but we had a perfect time catching up and like normal our holiday would not have been complete with out the normal highly competitive family challenges, anything we could make into a competition we did and I mean just about everything!

How cool is this little passage way which leads to the coolest kids room, the kids spent hours playing in here!

I just wish I had my new camera back then, still loving the memories though! A little slice of heaven!

Our Possum comes for a visit!

2011-07-19T01:07:00.000+10:00

Now I know that some people have quite a strong dislike for our fury little friends the brushtail possum, as they tend to like making their homes in peoples roofs, but I am just in love with our little friend, she(I am calling her a she as I have no idea of her actual sex but she is so sweet she just has to be a female!)comes and visits about once a week and I finally have photographic proof!

I am struggling at the moment to take photographs manually at night with out every photo looking like absolute rubbish, so thankfully my subject was friendly enough to ignore my flash so I could take a couple of photos of her gorgeous little face! I am quite possibly the first paparazzi photographer for possums!

I hope I haven't frightened her off lol!

Our little fury and feathery friends!

2011-07-09T00:18:00.000+10:00

It could be the cold weather but we now have two little friends that are coming to our back door for a visit!

I haven't taken a photo yet but we have a brushtail possum that comes up in the evening and taps on the door for a feed, usually we leave scraps out for her in the evening down at the tree at the back, so if we don't do this for a couple of days she comes for a visit! Very cute, as she will lean up against your leg to tell you she is here if you are out on the back deck!

Our second little friend is a butcher bird that sits out the back and waits for a little meat every once and awhile! The bird actually flew inside last week and landed on my soup ladle, which meant that I had tomato soup splat everywhere, but I will forgive her as she is very cute and thankfully she found her own way out without too much disarray!

Welcome to the family our fury and feathery friends, we are always happy for you to pop on by for a visit!

A winter spray of sunshine!

2011-07-04T23:19:00.000+10:00

I don't know what is so special about winter blue skies and yellow flowers but it makes my heart sing! Every winter for a couple of weeks our Brook is just a sea of yellow and this year with my new camera, just something I could not resist!

We are on our second week of winter's break at the moment and there are so many places to be and things to do and we are running out of time fast! I adore school holidays and having my girl at home! Today was such a perfect day, perfect weather, perfect company it was hard to do anything but get outside and spend the hours playing at the park and strolling along the Brook with good company...........thank you Cathy and Rosanna, these flowers pretty much some up what a bright and fun day was had by all in your company!

I just love the days where you have nothing planned that just seem to organically form to leave the most beautiful memories!

Flooding in Northern NSW!

2011-06-18T17:53:00.000+10:00

We spent a lovely long weekend in Coffs Harbour last weekend but we unfortunately seem to be a jinx lately with the Brisbane floods in January and now the flooding down south, friends and family should avoid inviting us anywhere as we seem to bring bad weather where ever we go! So even though it rained all weekend it was lovely catching up with David's parents and the kids loved spending quality time with their Oma and Opa!

Most of the time was spent relaxing and we did manage to visit a couple of garage sales and fit in an hour at keggel 9-pin bowling, which is similar to ten pin but a lot more relaxed no change of shoes required, so disappointed those gorgeous bowling shoes are so attractive lol!

We travelled home on Monday hoping to get home in time for Amber's ballet lesson but unfortunately we spent two hours stuck in traffic at Corindi which is half way between Coffs Harbour and Grafton because of flooding over the highway, so even though we didn't make it back in time for ballet, we are counting our lucky stars as they closed the highway the next day, so our long weekend nearly turned into a two week holiday! Thankfully David parents are fine a little water logged I am sure but at least they are high and dry!

Camera in the city!

2011-06-17T12:05:00.000+10:00

Wow, we finally had our last photography lesson in the City, so we were all packed into our Teacher Andi's van and off to the bright Brisbane lights! We had such a wonderful night and like he promised us.................we would not want to leave! A good time was had by all and it was nice to put all the theory finally into practise! I would highly recommend Andrew's classes either through Stafford Heights community adult education if you are lucky enough to live in Brisbane and he also runs classes from his website here at http://www.photoslamour.com they are very well priced and he really breaks things down into simple terms, so if someone like me can do it anyone can! Plus he backs this all up with free support after you have finished the course, just brilliant!

Please don't take my amateur photos as proof though, a lot of practise is still required like anything good I suppose takes commitment and patience and a lot of practise! But at least now I feel I have the ability and know how to begin on this amazing adventure and what a thrill that is!

Now I am busting to head back into the city to practise some more!

Same shot below taken three times but playing around with the white balance changes the accent on the colours! I can't believe something this simple can change the look of a photo this much!

My new camera!

2011-06-15T18:05:00.000+10:00

Well after along time drooling over slr cameras and reading other inspirational blogs filled with the most breathtaking photos, my husband has finally given me the best present I could ever ask for, my very own canon slr 600D, I will probably spend the next couple of years without any presents, but I don't care as this is the best present ever and every time I turn it on it feels like Christmas to me anyway!

So after two months and one adult education class(I kind of know my way around the camera when placed on manual), I feel I can finally unleash myself on the world, well my little pocket of the world anyway! I am taking my teachers advice and trying to practise, practise, practise and I am trying my hardest not to use the automatic button any more! I am sure there will be times lol! I still have a lot to learn and I am not sure how long it takes to get to that point where you feel as one with the came but I am going to give it a good go, even if I drive my two year old crazy pointing the camera at him all the time and dragging him to every corner of the world looking for fun locations!

It is so lovely to have a passion for something again, it seems like such a long time ago that I felt this excited about something, something just for me! Now I have to try and live up to all my hype, hopefully, and the biggest reason for wanting the camera is so I can take photos of my gorgeous children to cherish in years to come, even if they tell me to go away!!!!!

Sports Day!

2011-05-19T10:59:00.000+10:00

Well it was sports day yesterday for the preps through to the year 3's and what can I say but a good day was had by all! My heart was in my throat I was so nervous for her, it is funny how your past can bring up all these memories on days like these! I think I was more nervous than my daughter was!

Expectation, is such a hard thing to handle as a parent, you don't realise when you are a parent how hard it is to hold back on what was once your successful sport(yes hard to believe but I was once a good athlete and sports days were the highlight of my year at school) or subject that you loved and succeeded in may not be where your child's talent and love is! So I find it one of the hardest things as a parent to just step back and be thankful that they are enjoying it so much and that it doesn't matter where they come or how well they do as long as they love doing physical activities and learn about how wonderful it is to work as a team and that the skill of sportsmanship is so much more valuable!

Amber is certainly like me, and not a sprinter so I think her time may come in a couple of years when there are longer distances to contest but if it doesn't that is ok because that was my joy not necessarily hers! So no records were broken but damn she had a fabulous time! They year 2's only had a 60m dash and a fun rotation of ball games, high jump and long jump, with a super tug of war challenge against all the rival house colour teams at the end!

I could not be any prouder as a parent when you hear your child go up to another child and congratulate them on racing so well! And my wish for her in the future is that hopefully one day she will get to experience something like that and if not she has already learnt a beautiful thing that no matter where you come she is a winner for giving it her all and being so gracious in defeat and well I couldn't be a prouder mother because in my eyes my daughter is a winner and my star and she always will be!

Memories!

2011-04-08T10:18:00.001+10:00

I was looking for a photo for my daughters show and tell last night and I came across this video, its not the best quality, but it made me smile! It seems like a life time ago that Amber was little, she is such a grown up young lady now!

It has reminded me to stop being so slack with my son and get the camera out and in his face, even if he is not that keen on the idea, he will thank me later lol! The kids were just glued to the videos last night, asking me to play them over and over again!

Rock on Amber, your mummy loves you to bits and your sweet voice just melts my heart!

As a final note I just had to post a picture of my daughter in these pants from last winter I just love them to bits and I wish sometimes, just sometimes that she would enjoy wearing jeans, but she is a dress girl through and through which I dearly love but just once in a blue moon would be nice lol, I guess I at least got them on her once!

Earth Hour!

2011-03-26T20:04:00.000+10:00

Well Earth Hour is nearly upon us here in Brisvegas and we will do our bit and turn the lights off for 1 hour! Lets hope the kids think this is a fun activity on a Saturday night! I wonder how many people will turn there lights off in Brisbane, it might be a fun night to do some star gazing!

Happy Earth Hour for any one who is joining in!

http://www.earthhour.org

Skate night!

2011-03-25T10:52:00.000+10:00

Well this is one event my daughter does not allow us to miss on the school calender, she just loves roller blading and our little one doesn't like to miss out either! Aidan had his first try at the big rink instead of the safe carpet this time! I think I am going to have two children hooked to blading very soon lol! I think my baby looks so cute in the tiniest little roller skates that they can make, just gorgeous!

Now they will have to work on me, I loved the excuse of having to stay on the side because Aidan was too little, I will have work on a new excuse lol! That will be a laughable sight, as lets just say me and wheels on my feet are not a good combination at any time of the year!

Thank you Cathy for allowing me to post some gorgeous photos of your devine daughter Rosanna, she is so photogenic!

Gorgeous free shabby things!

2011-03-19T20:11:00.000+10:00

I just had to share this site with my fellow bloggers! I just adore all their free buttons and pretty things for my blog and everything on their blog is free!

Take a look and share in all their yummy talented and beautiful art and photography!

www.shabbyblogsblog.blogspot.com

www.shabbyblogs.com

The hard part is picking which one to use!

So much for turning over a new leaf!

2011-03-19T18:40:00.000+10:00

Well that leaf well and truly shrivelled and up and died lol! What a year, I can't believe it has taken me a full year to blog again! It has been a strange year, in which I was struck down with a cold that took me 9 months to shake off, this left me uninspired to basically do anything except sleep in my spare time, as Aidan has truly slotted well into his position of an active 2 years old, throwing up many challenges in the process, it has not left much time for well anything else really. I am certainly not complaining though as I have two very healthy and most of the time happy children.

Amber is loving year two and has the most adorable, sweet and utterly gorgeous teacher! Now I just need to convince her to move to year three next year with us and life will be super perfect lol! I seem to be spending a good majority of my day up at school helping with various things where ever I can! I am sure Jacqui is well and truly sick of seeing my face! Aidan's fan club is increasing constantly with a new gaggle of groupies this year adoring his every move! I don't know what he is going to do when the attention and the cuteness goes away!

Well Amber's after school activities just seem to keep growing, which is not helping her poor mother in any way! We have decided that we are going to cut back on a lot next term, to give her a bit of a break and so basically she can just be a kid and play a little more, or maybe its so I can get something else done besides driving her around!

We started Little Athletics last year and Amber just has the best time, I have to admit, I have also had a wonderful time and it brings back some wonderful memories from my childhood when I used to run and and race walk as a sport! We had our final club day this afternoon which finished in a pizza party and a trophy and certificate presentation!

It was a lovely afternoon even if it rained and we spent the whole afternoon in the club house and too my surprise and to Amber's also she won a trophy for most improved athlete in the junior division no mean feat as per attendance she had the most personal best times than any other girl athlete in the u6's, u7's and u8's, I am so proud of her as she tries so very hard every week and even though she is usually some where near the back she works hard and is always at training and has been improving nearly every single week and most importantly she never gives up!

I am so proud of my baby and she is the one that has inspired me to start blogging again and deserves a big mention in this post! So congratulations Amber we are all so very proud of you for giving everything 100% effort all the time, may the sky be the limit in everything you do!

The icing on the cake and what was a big surprise this afternoon and something I still can't believe is that, I myself received an award for best volunteer parent award for the 2010/2011 season for little athletics for all the marshalling and help over the season! What a surprise as I do it because I love being part of my daughters life and it is a whole lot of fun plus the kids are just great!

Well like always I can rattle on for pages about all the things that have and haven't happened over the last 12 months, but I will save everyone the pain and just be thankful that we are all a little older and hopefully a little wiser and looking forward to a fun and busy 2011 and maybe just maybe I might manage to blog more than once a year lol, don't hold your breath!

A new look!

2010-03-28T02:31:00.000+10:00

I am turning over a new leaf and I am going to try and blog a little more in April, so why not start with a new background and finally a new title as Mr. Aidan has been in our lives for nearly 18 months now and I thought I should add him to my blog title lol!!!! Pretty impressive it only took me 18 months to add my son!

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend, the weather has been just delicious in Brisbane today, but I am a bit of a cold frog and not looking forward to the weather changing as we head towards winter! The thought of moving from my warm cosy bed to a crisp and cool morning does nothing for me, lucky we don't suffer to many of those kinds of days in Brissy, just the thought of it is making me shiver! So here's to warm days and even warmer nights!

I found a little visitor in my garden a couple of nights ago, I don't usually find butterflies catching zzzz's at night! That is one of the things I love about summer, all the butterflies in my garden! It was a lovely surprise!

xx

The imaginations of Aidan!!!!!

2010-03-27T21:24:00.000+10:00

I have been busy compiling a quirky list of the funnyisms and milestones that our little Mr.Aidan has charmed us with over the last 7 or so months and as the list keeps growing and growing I came across this little gem! AHHHH to have the imagination of a one year old......................I will let the video tell the story.

Rock on little man, you fill my days with laughter and joy!

You can clean my floors for me every day Aidan xx!

The second time around!

2010-03-17T23:46:00.000+10:00

Isn't life funny, I swore to myself that with my second child I would make the time to record everything and when my children look back that could compare and laugh about their life and pick on their mother for recording everything, down to the most minuscule little details! But I have fallen victim to what seems like a very common situation in our household.........................the "I will do it later disease!" I can hear myself this very moment nattering inside my head that I will sit down and get up to date with what is now a ridiculously near impossible task to complete.................as my memory these days is not cracked up to be what it used to be! You see when I was a young girl I had a memory like an elephant, I remembered everything, down to what present I bought my boyfriend(now hubby), when we were nineteen!

All I can say is thank goodness for blogs because with out this my little man would have nothing except a couple of dates when teeth came through and weights and measurements up to his 1st birthday, with no photos and no little captions about the special occasions and milestones he reached in that oh so very special first year!

Sorry in advance my beautiful sweet natured and fun little boy, mummy will try and post now some of the special things that have happened to you in the last 18 months that have made me smile, laugh and cry!

So here are a few Aidan isms as I like to call them!

1. He was so determined to walk and get around as fast as he could, very different to Amber who took her first steps at 14 months, Aidan took his first steps at the end of 10 months and never looked back. I think it took us by surprise as it was difficult to get a recording of him moving at first, it seems like such a long time ago now!

2. One of my favourite things that Aidan used to do and is oh so sweet but unfortunately something we missed on video, as you can see by the below taping that we tried to set up, he used to love his blanket so much and he would always have more than one lying around so one day we caught him crawling down the hall that had several blankets lying on the floor so when he was really tired he would crawl along and stop at each blanket and then rest his head down on the floor for a nap but then decide that he had to keep going until of course he hit the next blanket. It was the cutest and sweetest thing I have ever seen I so wish I had taped it, but its ok it will always be in my memories and in my heart forever!

3. The boy loves to climb and I mean everything, you name it in our house he has climbed and conquered it already. The kitchen bench, the dining table and why stop there, he also loves to jump off things my favourite is when he jumps off the ottoman and onto our Wing back chair! He is such a little dare devil, next stop the roof no doubt, if we get to the age of two without broken bones I will be amazed! He also has no fear of water and thinks he can swim and slippery slides who needs assistance when its second nature to slide down a slippery dip isn't it lol!!!!!!

4. He also loves to jump (well he is constantly trying to jump), everyone up at Amber's school will contest to that, he spends hours trying to jump downstairs one day he will achieve this and shock himself! He is working on walking down the stairs at the moment without using a rail for assistance, he is such a crazy little thing!

5. Aidan adores books and will spend hours sitting in the bedroom looking at the pages and pointing to the words, once he works out how to talk watch your ears,I have a feeling he is never going to shut up once he works it all out!

6. The boy can wee, take his nappy off for a little nappy free time and I guarantee that within 10 minutes you will have approximately 3 puddles somewhere around the house. I know this is not a milestone, but its a fact lol!

7. Aidan's favourite song is HAPPY BIRTHDAY and "If your happy and you know it"....he especially loves the hip hip hooray part! He sang this for the first time at Amber's birthday party dinner and took all the attention away from the birthday girl, lucky she was very gracious about the whole thing!

The boy is also partial to getting his groove on, watch out girls with these moves your in trouble lol!

8. He loves buttons and pressing them, his fine motor skills from a very young age have just blown me away. I remember being up at school when Amber was in Prep and Aidan was a very young 8 months old and he was playing with a Trouble game and he was putting the little player pieces in the little circles with ease, pen lids can be taken off with ease and then placed back on, he is just so fascinated with how things go together, this is very David and I can see a whole lot of trouble up ahead! You can ask my walls they have already received a good battering!

9. A social creature he is and for the last two years he has built a very loyal and some what intense fan club at Amber's school. Their are literally a handful of children that mob him as soon as he walks in the door and Adore him with cuddles, kisses and a whole lot of love is given out in abundance and he soaks up all that attention like a little sponge. I have never met a child that is so happy to be touched and carried around so much, it takes something great for him to get cranky and push them away! He will have a rude shock one day when the attention goes away!

10. He literally never cries, I am sure this will change but he is the bravest little man, twice now he has lost a toe or fingernail through getting his fingers caught in a draw and a toe under a door and both times he only cried for the smallest amount of time and then moved on! Thankfully his toenail has grown back and his fingernail is halfway there, but it just leaves my gobsmacked how brave he is, I would be sucking it for all it was worth and crying my little eyes out if that happened to me.

11. He will wake up in the middle of the night and come looking for someone and if he doesn't find anyone he will just find a spot on the lounge or floor and go back to sleep, it is really so cute!

12. Aidan's favourite food is macaroni and cheese and like his sister he loves his vegetables and fruit especially watermelon, he has also recently thanks to an older sister and with Easter found on obbsession with Chocolate and any thing sweet and with his fantastic climbing skills finding the chocolate is no problem what so ever!

13.. Another thing he loves is my lap top as I found out only recently while on the phone with a customer and within minutes he managed to flick all the keys off the keyboard with my nail file and by the way this is our second lap top as the first one ended up water logged thanks to Aidan whacking it with his sippa cup and filling the keyboard up with water. The computer has now been moved higher, but did I mention that he can climb lol!!!

14. Aidan is not interested in learning words one by one, he is trying really hard to talk in full sentences, unfortunately he is the only one that understands what is going on about! Can anyone remember that lovely frustrating stage in a child's life where there is lack of communication followed by a meltdown and hissy fit because you can't understand them!

15. We have now come to the fun stage of Aidan, the stage that drives me a little nuts, the ,"I must cling to my mothers side no matter what!"(this is not a milestone of sorts but something that I will surely never forget with both my children lol!) and the flash backs of my daughter come flooding back way to clearly now thanks to my new little side kick! Yes I am talking about the stage where they never leave your side, I can not go anywhere without Aidan being on my lap, gone is the peace of going to the bathroom, eating a meal or just wanting to have a little me space, I guess for the interim I will have to be happy with the very small window of peace late at night...............you know the time of the night when your dead tired and should really just go to bed and catch some zzzzzz's but for some insane reason you have the desire to stay up so you can have some me time!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just the thought of me time oh what bliss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

16. Not to finish on a bad note but our little man has now decided that hitting and biting is the best way to problem solve! Can't get what you want or someone is in your face easy fixed bite or hit them guaranteed to send them running...............right?????????
(I am hoping this stage is brief lol or else we are all going to be all very holey soon!)
And just when you thought you were going to go crazy and couldn't stand any more he goes and does something so cute that you just have to forgive him and go and give him a big cuddle!

So here are some choice new words he has thrown our way lately we have shh which means shoes and doooo that means dog and the perfect way to finish this post seeee ya! Until tomorrow seeee ya mate!

Fete's, Fireworks, Bubbles and Birthday's that is what September was made of!

2010-03-06T02:28:00.000+10:00

Forget Christmas being the crazy season our crazy season starts in August and runs all the way through to March! It is only when we hit mid March that I can sit down and breath again. I think nearly every birthday anniversary plus throw in Christmas, New Year and Easter falls at this end of the year and it is basically non stop nearly every weekend until autumn! I think in just one week in September there are 4 birthdays, Father's Day, 2 anniversaries and that is just in the first week of the month lol!

We also managed to fit in the school fete, a trip into the city for River Fire(which was also the last year they had the F115 fighter jet fly over head and put its after burner on, it was pretty spectacular to see and it was great to be there for the final flight over Brisbane!

I am not complaining in the slightest about all this as all these occasions also means lots of celebrating with family and friends and how lucky am I to have such a wonderful family to celebrate and make special memories with.

Thanks for a wonderful and insane couple of months and now I am wondering what I will spend the rest of 2010 doing................................sleep sounds good lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

August/September in photos!

David's Birthday.......

a Father's Day celebration from Amber and here prep A class to their daddy's.....

River Fire Fireworks celebrating our City and River 2009......

a Teddy Bear birthday party for Amber's friend Tara on her 6th Birthday.....

Wilston State Schools Fete 2009............................

and finally for a little bit of fun Amber blowing bubbles!

While in the celebration of 1st Birthdays!!!!!

2010-02-27T23:32:00.000+10:00

The Sweet and Adorable Miss Makayla on her 1st Birthday!

There were two other important birthdays that happened just before our little mans that deserve a very special mention! My niece and nephew both turned the big 1 in August and early September! I hadn't forgotten you both how could I you are both to darn cute!!!!

So a big HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY to our gorgeous little William and Makayla, thank you for allowing us to share in your special occasions with you! I can only imagine what our three little amigos will get up to in the years to come! Watch out world they are all a big one now and on the move and ready to groove!

Oh the adventures that are ahead and the stories they will have to tell, I can't wait! So here is to snakes and snails and puppy dogs tails and sugar and spice and all things nice!

Love your Aunty Kylie xx

The Spunky Mr Will in his dapper Tie, just too cute!

Fun and games below at Makayla's Spotty Birthday Bash!

Hey mum your handy work is now famous, your little teacups where so cute and yummy and you did a wonderful job on the cake Jen!

Fun in the Jungle and one dressed up affair at Will's Birthday!

And on an end note, I just needed to post this video of Makayla, it cracks me up every time I watch it! 1 going on 21, love you to bits Miss Makayla!

The day Aidan turned one!!!!!

2010-02-22T14:21:00.000+10:00

I sometimes wonder where time goes, it only seems like yesterday that I was giving birth to my second child and just how special that first Birthday is to myself, David and to Aidan's big sister Amber! Its a time to celebrate the amazing changes that have happened at such a rapid rate to our little man in that oh so special first year and to see the amazing milestones that he has reached in such a small space of time! It has also been a year of great change with Amber completing her first year at school and finding where she now fits in to a family that was once three and is now four!

Being an eldest child myself I can appreciate how much can change when you don't have your parents sole attention every single second of the day. I think a first child spends the rest of there lives once a new sibling enters the household trying to achieve and keep there parents favour and attention from that day on ward! Not that this is a bad thing I guess unless of course jealous rears its ugly head, but I have to say Amber has adjusted beautifully and most of the time has a healthy love for her little brother(except of course when he touches her little ponies or tries to eat all her princess and barbie dolls little excersories lol, but that is another story!) and it makes me so proud when I see them cuddling and spending time together!

I have to admit the second time around the celebration was very low key compared to our first, I would hate to see what would happen if I had 6 children, the last child would be lucky if I remembered it was even their birthday lol! Thankfully at the age of one they don't really remember very much but I think a first birthday is for the parents in some way to say we made it through the first year and we still some how managed to pull a party together!!!!

We had two celebrations an intimate little party with family and friends which I am starting to realize that big is not necessiarily always beautiful and a very small celebration with just us and his Oma and Opa on the actual day! Both days went way to fast but they both went off with out drama or tears!

So my sweet little man I hope you can look back on this post and share in the lovely memories and joy that you brought us in your first year of life and just how very special and wonderful a life we now have thanks to you being part of it!

A big thank you to all our friends and family that helped us share and celebrate such a special day your presence made our little mans birthday an amazing one for all of us!

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY AIDAN (YES I KNOW IT TOOK YOUR MUMMY 5 MONTHS TO POST THIS AS YOUR BIRTHDAY WAS ON THE 28TH OF SEPTEMBER!, WE WERE JUST TO BUSY ENJOYING YOU TO WRITE THIS ALL DOWN UNTIL NOW!) Lucky mummy has a good memory most of the time lol!

All our love now and always Mummy, Daddy and Amber and all your family and friends xx!

I have been unwell!

2010-02-06T00:57:00.001+10:00

Life is a funny creature, I had big plans while David was away in the Solomon Islands for work and I had many goals which sometimes make me wonder if I have rocks in my head for thinking that I would actually manage to achieve any of these goals with a five year old about to head back to school and a one year old..............well just being a one year old, but I am a list maker and it always gives me great satisfaction to cross things off my list even if that doesn't happen very often and well that is basically where I think that I keep going wrong as I put way to many things on those lists so when something unexpected happens which it always does my plans seem to come crashing down into a heap which is silly really cause that is life!

This sounds all very dramatic in the scheme of things and that is the funny thing about life I think we get sent these lessons in life to teach us to slow down and reevaluate what is truly important in life! I don't know if these lessons will stop me making lists but I am trying to slowly learn to actually listen to what my body is telling me, and basically it is telling me to slow down as I am no spring chicken any more and don't fuss about the little things! As low and behold with only a week into David being away I was struck down with another bout of guardia and then I pulled a muscle in my shoulders which has rendered me.................well basically useless and majorly frustrated. One of the things on my list was to blog every day so I can catch up with all the events that have happened since August that I have missed out on since life has got in the way (how rude of it lol!) and made what was a little job a now majorly impossible one oh and I forgot to add the number three bad thing that happened this week I got a flat tyre as I was getting Aidan in the car to pick up Amber from school just the other day, I am hoping and praying that that will be the end of my bad luck lol.....................I think I must have killed a china man or two lol!

But I can say that David will be back on Monday after three weeks away and that even though I got absolutely nothing done and that it drove me crazy laying around the house looking at the mess, I tryed to look the other way and rest and let my body try and heal itself, it hasn't exactly recovered very well, but I think it is hard to rest a shoulder with a one year old wanting you to pick them up all the time, but I have tried and the important thing is that I have learnt that when people reach out to help, let them, so even though my friends and my sister don't usually read this blog I want to send out a big thank you to Dot, Linda and to Jennifer without your love and support and basically picking up Amber from school in her first week back and for taking Aidan for the day to help me recover that with out you all I would be lost and well I think I would be one big crying mess on the floor, you guys saved my life this week and I only hope one day I will be able to return the favour!

I cannot complain though as my children have both been well and full of energy and we still managed to get Amber off to what is now her first year as a big girl in year one! Aidan keeps adding to his teeth, we had two surprise molars arrive over the last couple of weeks, and here I was waiting for his fourth bottom tooth to arrive......................I am still waiting lol as to my surprise the molars decided to arrive first!

But I am getting way ahead of myself, as I am still back in 2009 lol, lets hope it doesn't get any worse or I might be blogging about 2009 in well 2011 at the rate I am going!

So here is a couple of funny videos and a bit of a time capsule of 2009 with Aidan, Amber and Darcy getting down to Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies", yes it has been done before but I thought this was just too cute and quite giggle worthy imo lol! Ah children they are truly a breath of fresh air! Doesn't Amber look like an old granny on Darcy's scooter lol, I just love it!

I have to say goodbye also to mums sewing machine recently, I have never been a sewer and I was certainly not interested at school but something happened just before I had Aidan, I decided I needed to conquer and find something new that I could achieve that well didn't break the piggy bank and that made me happy, and sewing for some reason fit the bill which is very strange if you know me, so mum kindly lent me her sewing machine and well the rest is history, I am still learning and I haven't even looked at a pattern yet lol, so I can't say that my creations are ground breaking or anything but I get a joy from making and creating something from scratch and it is so lovely to find something that I can achieve that is tangible and semi useful that has not been destroyed by little hands lol, like the lovely task of trying to keep the house clean! The sewing machine has now made its way back to mum after just over 12 months and David decided I really should have my own machine, so I ended up with quite an early birthday present seeing my birthday is not until March but with how busy I have been I probably won't have much of a chance to touch it until then anyway lol! Thank you so much mum for the lend of your machine and for your inspiration and support with yet another one of your zany daughters ideas!

Yes shock horror the above is a photo of one of the first things I managed to sew, yes the skirt is a little dodgy brothers but it is just for play and Amber loves it which is a good thing with my new sewing machine she is probably going to get a truck load more of her mothers crazy creations and hopefully I manage to improve a little on the way too! I also made the fairy halo that Amber is wearing in another fit of inspiration lol! In the other photos I was showing Amber how to sew for a show and tell project for her at school isn't that a laugh talk about the blind leading the blind! My next project if I am successful and don't totally botch it up, is a rara skirt lol, I have found one that I adore that is made by the children's brand Room Seven so if I can achieve anything even close to that I will be a happy little mummy, oh well its good to have dreams isn't it lol!!!!

The above photo of the Room Seven Sammy skirt is thanks to My Little Darlings Boutique!

Well that is August nearly covered, I can hopefully move on to the next post of William, Makayla and Aidan and their 1st birthdays..............what do you mean they are nearly two lol!!!!!!!

And to anyone that makes lists, keep on keeping on as they do work sometimes I know I am going to keep plugging away at mine, and maybe just maybe one day I will succeed and finish just one of those lists.................now where was I, let me see, August check......................!

While you were sleeping!

2010-01-14T22:20:00.000+10:00

There is something so magical and special when it comes to a sleeping child even when they are covered in food or stuck in a strange position and its not just the fact that the house is suddenly quite and at peace its that to a mother it is that special small amount of time in the day or night that you have to reflect and basically forgive for all the mischievous adventures that took place in the hours or minutes before slumber wove its magical spell upon them and sent them into sweet slumber, which isn't as gentle and natural as it should be in our house case in point with both my children falling asleep either while eating or on the run as they finally crash and burn when sleep final wins over!

They seem almost angelic and they would nearly get away with that facade if it wasn't for the tornado of toys and trail of mess left in their wake............but when you see their sweet innocent sleeping faces, well all that frustration just seems to melt away......................!

Thank you my gorgeous little ones for putting a smile on my face and a skip in my step, which is lucky cause I am now off to clean up the mess my little tornadoes just left for me just minutes ago.

Sleep peacefully my little angels, I couldn't imagine a more perfect life hugs and love forever your mummy xx!

A sad start to the new year!

2010-01-07T19:54:00.000+10:00

I know to some people that a pet is just a pet and can't understand or sympathize with people that are grieving over a lost pet, so if you are one of those people please don't read on as I don't want to offend! I am typing this in advance as I know I won't be able to bring myself to type anything tomorrow and as I write tears are welling up in my eyes. Our pet dog snoopy who has been in my husband and my life for nearly 14 years will be heading for his last car journey tomorrow to the vets(a place he has always hated ever since he was a puppy and had meningitis!), and I know I am going to hate taking him this time as it will be his last trip and he just loves going for a drive in the car so it just seems cruel!

We have been hoping and praying every day that life would make that choice for us and that we wouldn't have to make that horrible decision to put him down but it just seems too cruel now as his heart just can't take much more. He finds it harder to enjoy himself with minor activities stretching his endurance and the medication he takes has turned him into a baby!

Snoopy was like my first child my first pet that was mine and mine alone and he went nearly everywhere with us, he was the loyalist and quirkiest pet I have ever had and also had a lot of spunk like most fox terriers and had a fondness for the postie and anyone who dared to trot down our garden path unannounced ankles, so I am sure some people will not miss him quite as much, but once you got to know you him it was basically impossible to get him off your lap!

I have never met a pet that was just desperate to go everywhere with us! I remember once when we had just moved up to Brisbane and we had decided while we were out we would make him be an outside pet so we created a high fence/gate out of wire and it was tall I can tell you, so anyway he was securely in the backyard and we started driving up the street in our Camry with the window down. We stopped at the red light at the top of our street which branched onto a main road and the next thing we know Snoopy was in our lap, he had somehow climbed over the fence and ran up the road and then jumped up the side of the car and through the open window, that is when we decided that maybe Snoopy should be an inside dog lol or risk being run over!

It makes me smile to think about the wonderful times we have had with him and he also helped me loss some of my baby weight after Amber was born as like most dogs walk was his favourite word! Leaving him behind when we went for a walk would have been unforgiveable!

Now water was something that he would happily let you leave him behind on, to say he hated it would be an understatment and it was only when we would wade to far out from the shore that he would have no choice but to dog paddle out to us so we wouldn't leave him behind.

When Amber came along we discovered that Snoopy was a little bit of an adventurist, he just adored going down the slippery slide. He loved going up and down a thousand times over and Amber thought it was just the best thing ever and we got such pleasure from watching both of them!

Good bye my baby and our best mate you were my first and I promise you will never be forgotten as you brought so much unconditional love and happiness into our lives and for that we are eternally grateful.

At 11.45pm today our baby passed away, rest in peace our sweet little boy I hope there are posties in heaven that you can chase love always Kylie, David, Amber and Aidan xx.

Book week at school!

2010-01-07T11:20:00.000+10:00

This was one of the many events that were held in the last term of school after looking at all the photos I am now realising why I have had absolutely no time for anything else lol! At least it was alot of fun!

I had just a couple of days to come up with a jungle character or a character from a book and for once in my life I wanted to stay clear of any type of princesses mission complete yahhhhh! Mind you silly me I then had to quickly make something, it hasn't fallen apart yet so I guess that is a good sign lol!!!!

Amber loved dressing up for the day as a tiger quite fitting with all her poses I think..............grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Hey there hoopla the circus is in town!

2010-01-07T00:45:00.000+10:00

Well I have to say that the title to this post sums up the last couple of months in the Nyssen household for the remaining part of 2009! I discovered just how crazy and insane life can be with a 5 year old finishing off her first year at school and all to quickly I am recalling what life is like with a one year old............................CRAZY INSANE..............that is what life has been like over the last three months.

So a big sorry to all those family members that have been coming back time after time to find nothing new! I am going to try extremely hard this year and that is my new year resolution to keep my blog up to date. Instead of one huge post I am going to try and post daily until I have caught up! So back to September 2009 we go I promise I won't ramble too much............ok who am I kidding it wouldn't be me if I didn't ramble!

Well as you can see by the photos Amber's amazing teachers tirelessly put together a circus performance for the whole school and it was pretty impressive for a class of 5 and six year olds. They had a wonderful time rehearsing and showing off there new talents to some proud parents and families and of course to all their peers!

I have been endlessly amazed and surprised at the love and endless effort that Amber's teachers Mrs.Argyris and Mrs.Bee have gone to throughout the year for our children, they have certainly set the bar at a very high level and I can't imagine the rest of her primary school experience topping this year!

Amber has emerged from her first year at school so confident and happy I am such a proud and happy mumma bear, I feel so fortunate that I was able to share in so much of this year with her, she is turning out to be such a beautiful young little lady on the outside and the in and for that I feel like the luckiest mother in the world!

All I can say is BRAVO AND ENCORE my little tight rope walker!!!

Amber trying out some moves at home after the circus!