Boxing Day

Today I pretty much spent the whole day cleaning the house, washing, ironing and packing to go to Rainbow Beach.

The kids were happy to play with their Christmas presents etc.

Christmas Day

Everyone was up early for Christmas and the kids got some great presents...

We opened the ham at 9am to find that it had gone "OFF" - I could not beleive it!! So it was panic stations but thankfully Lauren and Myron were our lifesavers and we were able to get their ham left over from Christmas Eve -so Ben raced over to get it..

Everyone started arriving from 9.30am and we did the Christmas stuff - my god there were people and presents and wrapping paper everywhere!!!

Then McKenzie passed out just before lunch time - sort of a fit thing, not really sure what it was, but it was pretty scary but I think it was just because she didn't eat much breakfast, it was hot and the excitement of it all....

Anyway after that, we all had a nice lunch and everyone started to leave around 3pmish and then Grant, Anna and their 2 children came over and left around 7pm - so a very long day, but an enjoyable day with all the family and friends.

Conjunctivitus on Christmas Eve

Well you wouldn't believe it but both kids came down with conjunctivitus on Christmas Eve - so I had both of them to the drs to get the eye drops for them.

Luckily it's only mild, as I was worried that I have to cancel Christmas Day at our Place!!

So I couldn't work as I had to look after both of the kids (and I felt really bad about it) but I couldn't do anything about it...

We ended up going over to Lauren and Myron's place for Christmas Eve drinks - which turned into a massive feast (and like I said, luckily the kids only had it mild) and we had a lovely night.

then I had to get my last minute stuff for Christmas day - busy busy.

More visitors

This morning I finished off the Christmas shopping thankfully - well I'm pretty sure it's all finished!!

In the afternoon we had Bronny, Ross, Gabriele, Shane, Micaela, Genevieve and Declan over for drinks and nibblies - it was so nice to catch up with all of them.

We haven't seen Gabriele for 9 months, so she has definitely grown up and is on the move now. We were all calling her Cyclone Gabriele.

Shane & Micaela ended up staying for dinner and left around 7.30pm and then it was the Sunday run around getting everything ready for Vacation Care, Child Care and work.

Santa Photo

This is the Santa photo that we got a couple of weeks ago - the silly photo place did it as a landscape and the kids look so tiny on it, so I scanned and cropped it, and fixed up the colours (got to love photoshop!) and here's the end result (a lot better than the original!!

Saturday Catch Up

This morning we went and had a look at a house at Alderley - it was nicely done and had a separate studio with 2 bedrooms and a bathroom which would have been pretty good, but the house itself was still only 3 bedrooms, lounge, dining and kitchen - so really no different to our arrangements now. It was on a big block but it all sloped, so again, nowhere for the kids to ride their bikes....

It's really hard to find a place that totally suits all our needs.

Then we caught up with a wonderful friends, Kristy and Adrian (with Taya and Caden) at the Warner Hotel - we haven't been there before but they had an inside play area for the kids and there weren't too many people there so it was nice to be able to catch up..

We had a nightmare walk with the kids this afternoon. All Kenz did was whinge and when we were about half way Dom decided he didn't want to ride his bike, so I piggy backed Dom home, and Ben pushed his bike home whilst walking Oscar...

Not the most enjoyable walk, that's for sure!

Dominic mustn't be feeling too well as he was asleep by 6.15pm!

Kenz watched a Christmas movie whilst I ironed for at least an hour.

Ben went to a party with some of the guys from the gym but he was home by about 10.30pm.

More Library books

This morning I took the kids to the library to get some more books for the next couple of weeks - I think McKenzie picked up 13 and Dominic managed 15!! I don't mind, as long as they read them (and don't lose them).

We also had the pest control guys here and we've had so many cockroaches (yuk) since the storms and rain.

Ben and the kids had a sleep in the afternoon and then about 6.30pm we went to the Everton Park Hotel to catch up with some more wonderful photographers for dinner! It was a good night and we were actually the last people to leave at 10pm. The kids thought it was great running around the playground in the dark - a bit different to the day time!!

Photographer's Christmas Lunch

Today we held a Christmas lunch at our place for a bunch of photographers. Ben normally catches up with these guys the 1st Monday of the month (which I can't make because I'm at work), so we held it today!

So in the morning the kids and I raced out and grabbed a few supplies, picked up the platters we had ordered from Coles, picked up the foccaccias from the deli and raced home and set everything up.

Everyone started arriving around 11pm and we had a great, watched a couple of slide shows and checked out a couple of albums.

Unfortunately I had to leave just after 2pm to take Dominic swimming, and then everyone pretty much went home after that.

Dominic loved swimming.

And after that we had to do our normal grocery shop, so we raced back to the shops, and then came home.

Ben had to go out to the AIPP meeting so the kids and I have left overs for dinner.

Trudy and Dean came back about 8pm and helped finish off the food (since there was so much left over!). It was great to catch up and chat with them.

Christmas Lights

Went to work today - just billing, billing, billing.

Kenz went to New Farm park today with Vacation care.

Ben had 2 appointments in the evening, so I took the kids to View Crescent (Arana Hills), Bowers Road and then to Mark and Sharon's place to check out all the Christmas lights! We had a pretty good night and it was great catching up with Mark and Sharon too!! Their place always looks great!!

Got home about 9.pm.

Tuesday

Dom woke up again with a dry nappy which is excellent - he's been so tired at night time that he hasn't really drunk his milk so obviously that is helping!!

Work was quiet today and we went out for our Christmas group lunch for nearly 2 hours.

Dominic came home in the same clothes he wore to child care (you might think this is strange that he doesn't normally, but he's been having a few accidents with his toilet training) so it was WONDERFUL that he came home in the same clothes - no accidents!!

Just writing out Christmas cards tonight and updating the blogs..

Toilet Training

Well I don't really have anything overly exciting to write about today, I just went to work, Kenz did cooking at vacation care and Dommy is toilet training and doing pretty well. He woke up this morning with a dry nappy for the first time ever!!

Should have gone to the gym tonight but again, had to much stuff to do - started wrapping Christmas presents.

Found out the name of the little girl we (all of the Clark family) are going to Sponsor and her name is Benedicta and she's from Ghana and she's 5 years old. Must get the paperwork organised asap!!

2nd Work Christmas party (for our kids)

We had a sleep in until 7.30am which was nice and then Mum and Dad brought Kenz and Dom home about 9am - it was so nice to wake up to a quiet house for a change!

The kids had a great time down the coast.

Then we had to race off to the Chermside Leisure Centre for the Christmas Party - it was a pretty good day - we were there for 3 hours - and they put on a lunch for us, and Santa handed out Christmas presents.

The kids just loved swimming at the water park!

The kids have a sleep over

Mum rang early this morning and said if I could meet her at at Jacobs Ridge (where there investment property it) that they would take the kids back to the coast for the night and bring them back to Brissy on Sunday morning. (so this meant that we could go to my work Christmas party and not have to worry about booking a babysitter)..

So I raced around in the morning, took the kids to get their Santa photo done at Stafford - I'll upload it when I get a chance - and then met Mum and dad at Midday at the house.

We then went to Harrigan's Bar / Hotel at Jacobs Well for lunch and then the kids went off with Nanna and Grandad for the night.

I got home just after 3pm, and then we got ready and caught the train to South Bank and joined our Christmas Party at the Maritime Museum. It was a pretty good night, they had a band (which played too much 70s music) but they were ok, and it was free drinks and a meal for the night. We left just after 10.30pm (as it was finishing at 11pm) and we caught the train home again...

It was horribly hot and muggy - and we were on the river!!

Dominic's Christmas Carols at Child Care

I don't know why, but Dom was not interested in joining in, yet he loves to sing Christmas Carols at home!!!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

You'll have to excuse the crappy quality of the photos, I've lost all of my actions in photshop, so these are just how they come out of the camera - nothing fancy

McKenzie's last day of Grade 2

Dominic's 3rd Birthday Photos

McKenzie's 7th Birthday Photos

Waterpark and the Library

This morning we caught up with my cousin Angela, Dallas and Lexie at the Newmarket Pool. this place was great, I've never been there before but they have waterslides and shallow fun play areas for the kids.

Dom just loved going down the waterslides and he was landing in water that was up to his neck - but he loved it - he's just make his way to the side, climb out and then go down the slide again!

Kenz had a great time too but I think she was a bit cold as she had purple lips but she refused to get out!!

It was great to catch up with Ang, just a bit tricky when we're trying to keep our eyes on all of the kids!

I'll try take the kids another time during these holidays...they'd love to do it again.

Then we went to the Mitchelton Library and became members as they have a Kids Reading Program on during the holidays - so Kenz got 7 books and Dom got 6 - Kenz has already read 5 tonight (which is unheard of!).. I managed to read 1 to Dommy.

We got home just after 2pm and then spent some time at home, just trying to stay cool!!!

Ben had another wedding at Redcliffe today and he didn't get home until about 8.30pm. His friend Grant, and his wife Anna, made us Thai for dinner again - Anna makes the best thai - it's so nice that she does that for us - we're very lucky!!

AIPP Christmas Party

This morning the kids and I visited Kristen, Charlotte & Ethan at their house - the first time we had been there and they've been leaving there for 12 months!!

The kids thought it was great because they've got a pool, and it was such a hot day, so is was great for the kids to cool off. Kristen bought the kids lovely birthday presents too - she always spoils my 2.

Then we had to race off and go grocery shopping and come home, quickly unpack and then race back out to go to Dominic's swimming lessons - so lots of swimming for Dom today!!

We got home by 3.30pm and then we had a babysitter arriving at 5pm as Ben and I had to go to the Photographer's Christmas Party at The Fox Hotel near South Bank..

As we were leaving, a massive storm was brewing but luckily there was no damage.

The Christmas party was good - I got to drink as Ben was driving, because he has a wedding tomorrow.

We got home about 12.30am and let the babysitter go home - she cost us $120 for the night!! Far out - it just makes a nice night out so expensive!!!

Dominic's Child Care Christmas Party

Another day of work, vacation care for Kenz (they went to Putt Putt at Victoria Park Golf Club) and then we had Dom's Christmas party at child care.

Dom was singing the Christmas songs beautifully at home abut once we got to child care, he didn't want to sit with the kids and he blatantly refused to sing!! Ben had to actually stand up with all the kids and hold Dominic who was very very shy....tried to get photos, but I don't think I managed to get any - I'll have to check!

Ben had to race off after half an hour because he had an appointment but at least he got there for a little while (so of course we had to take 2 cars).

We were the last ones to leave, mainly because both of the kids wanted to go to the toilet and when we walked out, everyone was gone, except for the staff! So we were home before 8pm.

School Holidays......again

McKenzie is going to Vacation care this week and Dom is at child care whilst Ben and I are still working. My work was busy today.

Kenz did arts and crafts and cooking.

After work we went up to our friend Greg's Photography Studio Launch up at Woody Point (near Redcliffe). It was nice of Greg and Loretta to invite us (and the kids) and it was a good night. The kids were stoked because they got Lolly bags!! I really admire Greg's photography, he does amazing stuff. We got home about 9.30pm.

Shopping

I was meant to catch up with Steph, Tres and Lyn today at DJ's Toowong to get our Annual Santa Photo but poor Tres had hurt her back and couldn't drive an hour down to see us, so we decided to cancel it this year and catch up at Steph's housewarming in the new year.

So instead, I went clothes shopping - 3 hours - and still didn't manage to find much! Bought some swimmers, some white casual pants (for the Nautical theme for my Xmas Party), a shirt and a red Christmas dress for Kenz and some crocks for Dom....

In the afternoon, we took the kids for a ride on their new birthday bikes (how bad is that 3 and 1 week after their birthdays) they finally get to ride their bikes!!

Kenz only stacked it once or twice but it was a controlled stack and Dom was fine as he still has training wheels on his bike.

Roshy's 2nd wedding

Ben had another wedding today so I packed up myself and the kids and headed down to Burleigh Heads to catch up with Rochelle & Andy and all of our family and their friends (who didn't get invited to the wedding).

It must have been 37 degrees, too hot for standing around in a park, but it was good to catch up with all of the family.

The kids were happy playing on the swings, I must have taken Dom to the toilet about 8 times (the joys of toilet training) and I took the kids for a little dip in the ocean.

When the kids were getting out they had a quick shower under the beach showers and this old woman with a very strong accent started abusing us and saying we were wasting "precious gold coast water" - for goodness sake, they were only washing the sand off and cooling off a bit. This woman kept on ranting and raving and then started trying to stop the kids turning the taps on - so that got me pretty angry and Beck told her to go back to her own country!!

So that sort of topped off my day at the park and we left and headed home about 3.30pm - I was so glad to be in air con!!

School finishes today

I took Kenz to school for her last day of Grade 2 - where has the time gone??

Dom and I raced to Harvey Norman to get some prints done for Roshy and then we raced off to digilab to pick up some prints for Mum.

Then Dom and I raced back to Kenzie's school for her final assembly - boy did that drag on!! But we finished by 11.15am and came home for lunch.

At 3pm we went to the Everton Park Hotel again as I had organised a get together with the grade 2 parents - anyone that wanted to, or could turn up were welcome. There ended up being 10 parents, so it was a nice little group.

We grabbed some dinner and got home just after Ben had flown home from Hamilton Island - so it was SO nice to see Ben again. The kids had missed him, especially Dommy - he made some comment on the way to swimming yesterday asking if Daddy was coming home and I said not until tomorrow and he said "I never see Daddy" - that really upset me.. Poor Dommy.

But Ben bought the kids some tshirts and surfy necklaces and the kids were happy about that! I got a lovely pink sarong...

Ben didn't get much time with the kids as he had to get all of his camera gear ready for tomorrow's wedding, download the Hamilton Is photos, un pack his clothes and wash them to wear to the wedidng the next day and charge batteries etc..

I think I was ironing clothes for Ben at 10pm or later!

Another busy Thursday

This morning I went up to McKenzie's school to see her teacher and talk about McKenzie's report card. She did ok, just the standard "at expected level" but her teacher just wanted to make sure that we kept reading, writing and doing maths with McKenzie over the holidays.

Then Dom and I went to the EP Hotel to catch up with the lovely Lise, Meaghan and Henry. Dom loves catching up with them. But it was so hot so I think we were only there for just over an hour or so - but we'll catch up with Lise and the kids in the new year.

Then Dom and I went grocery shopping, and we raced out to Dom's swimming lesson and got to Kenzie's school about 15 minutes late but she was playing on the swings with some friends, so that was good.

Ben shot his wedding at Hamilton and he even got a flight in a helicopter with the bride and groom over to Whitehaven Beach! He gets all the good gigs!!

I just cooked a quiche for dinner tonight - something easy.

Happy Anniversary Mum & Dad

Today is Mum & Dad's 37th Wedding Anniversary! I don't know how they do it!

It's also Lexie's 5th birthday today (my cousin's little girl) so I hope Lex has a great day too.

Ben left this morning to fly up to Hamilton Island to shoot a wedding.

I raced from work to pick up both of the kids, then we went and got Red Rooster for dinner and then got home at 6pm, when Ben phoned. He was sitting down over looking the Marina ordering his dinner - lucky for some.

Then we had a massive electrical storm and we lost power! Trust me, it's not fun having a black out with 2 little kids and a black dog!! I kept falling over Oscar. We had a torch and 2 candles, so that gave us enough light. Apparently one of the big transmitters was hit by lightening and that's why we lost power.

I can't believe it is DECEMBER!!!!

Firstly a very Happy Birthday to my wonderful friend Steph - I hope you have a great day Steph!!

I worked today and then raced home to go out McKenzie's School Christmas Carols at the school. We got there at 6pm (just before the mad rush). The concert was pretty good except I couldn't see McKenzie very well - she was standing on the front stands but then there were tall kids standing in front of her - so I was a bit annoyed about that because I was trying to video her. Oh well, maybe she will be taller next year (LOL)...

Dominic had enough by 7pm so Ben took him home and then Kenz and I left at 8pm as McKenzie wanted to write out her Christmas cards for school.

Dominic's 3rd Birthday

Dominic woke up about 6am for his birthday and you should have seen the look on his face when he saw his new BIKE - it was priceless!!!

We also bought him some Gears, Gears, Gears and some pj's.

Since we were meant to be away camping, we didn't have anything planned for Dom's birthday, (as we saw both sides of the family near McKenzie's birthday) so we had Craig, Liz and the kids around, and Mum and Dad came up from the coast, and we had a lovely morning tea (with 2 cakes both Dom and Kenz) out on the deck.

McKenzie got her birthday present from Craig and Liz, a Barbie MP3 player!!

Dominic got a tiger car, a garbage truck and a quad bike (which was their birthday and Christmas presents).

After everyone left about 3.30pm, we had about an hour to just relax (the kids wouldn't go to sleep) and then Ian, Sandy and their kids came over for a bbq and they all left about 9.30pm - so another late night for the kids..but they had a great time and Dom had a wonderful birthday.

Where has the time gone!!???

I just don't seem to have time to do my blogs at the moment and now it's nearly 2 weeks later, so I need to try remember and break down what we have been doing!

Monday 24th, Tuesday 25th and Wednesday 26th are normally the same sort of thing, with work, child care, school, and Ben designing albums and seeing clients.

We've been having a lot of rain and storms lately and on Thursday we had to make the decision to NOT go camping with Craig and Liz, as it just wasn't going to be worth going in the rain and wind - so we were very disappointed in having to miss out on camping for the 2nd time this year!!

So Thursday I just raced around getting Christmas presents, grocery shopping, taking Dominic to swimming - I changed him to the Thursdays and he likes this class so much better without the naughty boys in his class. Then I took Kenz to her last Vision Therapy session - and I need to make an appointment soon for her to have her eyes tested to see if there has been an improvements.

Friday I cannot remember what we did, but I know the weather was fine, so we were really peeved. We did have a shower in the afternoon though. It was also windy.

Saturday Ben had a wedding and we had a storm in the afternoon (but Ben didn't get the storm at Ocean View Winery where the wedding was).

We pretty much stayed home and had a quiet day and the kids stayed up and watched The Polar Express until 10pm!!!

More Storms and just busy, busy, busy

Well Brisbane has been hit by more storms again on Wednesday night and Ben and I were up around 1am (Thurs morning) making sure our studio wasn't flooding - it was pretty close to the doors, but luckily didn't make it in!!

Thursday McKenzie had her Vision Therapy (2nd last session) and I just did the grocery shopping etc.

Friday Ben had a wedding and I took Dominic swimming. He has 2 little brothers in his class who are just out of control and I must change him out of that class - poor Dom was in tears because of these naughty naughty boys and to top it off, their mum is a policewoman!! she doesn't have any control over them at all!!

Saturday Ben had another wedding on and the kids and just hung around the house and played with their birthday presents etc and we also went down to Harvey Norman where the kids decided to muck up so they were in trouble for the rest of the afternoon!

Sunday we went around to Mike and Kate's place and I took some photos of the girls for Kate and she gave Kenz and Dom their birthday presents - a V Smile (which plugs into your tv) and the keyboard that attaches to it. The kids just love it!!!

I really like this photo - Dominic was asleep (he slept for 2 hours whilst over there) so unfortunately he missed out, but there will be many more times for fun photo shoots like this..

Princess Ratbag Pettiskirts - FREE PHOTO SHOOT

I've mentioned before I'd do a free photoshoot to anyone who bought a Princess Ratbag Pettiskirt, but I just thought I'd attach their website now..

http://www.princessratbag.com/store/Default.asp

McKenzie's 7th Birthday

This morning we were woken up by Dominic and the smoke alarm!!

Happy Birthday Kenz - I bet you love waking up to a smoke alarm...

Anyway today didn't work out as planned, Kenz just wanted to have her birthday on the beach and it was a miserable day after the big storm last night - and we were pretty worried and wanted to get home to make sure our house was still in one piece since we're in the Brisbane North West - we had heard on the news that The Gap and Ferny Hills copped it and they're only 5 minute from us.

We gave Kenz her birthday present - she wanted a Cabbage Patch Doll and her main surprise was waiting at home for her (a new bike!)...

We got home fairly early to find everything intact - thank god!

Then I had to drive to Samford to pick up Oscar from the kennels and that's when I realised the extent of the storm!! All from Keperra, through to Ferny Grove and Samford there were power lines done, trees just demolished, shredded leaves and branches on the roads and all of the intersections were out!!

When I got home with Oscar (and the kids) Ben's parents had arrived to celebrate McKenzie's (and Dominic's) birthdays.

Mary bought a sponge cake and she decorated it with McKenzie. It was so nice to catch up with them.

McKenzie then wanted to go to McDonalds for her Birthday dinner - so we headed off to Newmarket, and I'd imagine there were a few people there that had lost power..

When I get a chance, I'll upload some of McKenzie's birthday photos - unfortunately with the storm, being down the coast and racing around, we didnt' get to take too many photos..

The worst storm in 24 years

This morning was beautiful and sunny and we headed off to the North Burleigh Surf Club for breakfast with Mr and Mrs Weaver (Rochelle and Andy), my parents, Nanna, Brooke (Andy's daughter) and Andy's family....we all had a great breakfast.

Rochelle gave McKenzie and Dom their early birthday presents..Beados for Kenz and a big Dump truck digger for Dom.

Then Mum, Dad and Nanna came around to the unit and also gave the kids birthday presents.. a crossword game, a Latch Hook for Kenz and Woody (from Toy Story) and a cricket set for Dommy.

After they had left the kids were happy to play with their new toys..

It was a stinking hot day and since it was lunch time, we decided to stay inside - bad move - by 2pm the storm came and we thought we were going to be wiped out - but amazingly the storm moved around us, hit Mt Tamborine and then smashed into The Gap and Ferny Grove - we had no idea if our house had been damaged or not...I emailed a couple of friends to see if we were hit in our area, but didn't get any email replies so I thought we had at least lost power...

Later in the afternoon (after the thunderstorm) we took the kids out to Cold Rock for some ice cream...the poor things, they just wanted to go to the beach and fly their kites and Kenz even wanted to walk up the Burleigh National park but we couldn't do any of it...

Oh well, we can't control the weather.....

More Beautiful Wedding Photos

More Beautiful Wedding Photos

Since I was bridesmaid, it was a bit hard for me to take the photos, so Ben took over from the ceremony...

Rochelle and Andy's wedding

A busy day today - Rochelle picked me up just before 10am and we went back to her place to get our hair done.

Ben took McKenzie to the hairdressers to get her hair done - a lovely braid.

Then Roshy and I met Mum and Dad at Surfers so we could get our make up done at Napaloen around midday. The 3 girls who did our make up did a really nice job.


Then we went back to Rochelle's place and had some nibblies and drinks before getting ready.



The Orange 1957 Chevy arrived at 2.30pm and we had a couple of photos done (I took them) and then we had to race off to the wedding. Funny thing was that the Chev was only 2 doors and the front seats didn't fold forward so Rochelle and I (in short dresses) had to climb over the seats, trying not to stand with our high heels on the leather seats!!!


We arrived right on time (3.00pm) to a beautiful day and a beautiful wedding. It was so nice and relaxed and just so Roshy and Andy.....

It was a beautiful ceremony.

We then headed off to the Mowbray Park Surf Club and we bumped into little Dommy with the babysitter we organised to mind him and we managed to get a couple of photos of him)...he looked so cute in McKenzie's Fairy Wings!

Then at the Surf Club we had some hot nibblies and drinks and McKenzie was ready to go back to the unit with Dom and the babysitter, so we took her back at 5.30pm. (I think she lasted there for about and hour).

So it worked out nice that Ben and I got to have some time by ourselves without kids, and spend time with the family. Everyone had a lovely time and it was so nice to feel so relaxed...

We left around 9.30pm so we could let the babysitter go home and check on the kids.

Off to Burleigh Heads

This afternoon we headed down to gorgeous Burleigh Heads (after lots of running around in the morning).

We got to Burleigh around 4pm and settled into our unit and my sister Rochelle arrived to talk to me about wedding stuff. Ben took the kids for a big walk.

Wonderful Roshy bought me a lovely Pandora bracelet for being her bridesmaid, which was so nice.

After Ben and the kids came back, we grabbed fish and chips for dinner at ate them on the beachfront.

Tried to settle the kids into bed but they were still awake at 9pm - and I was trying to get them to bed early because of the wedding tomorrow!!

It must be Thursday again

I've been busy this morning - dropped Kenz off to school (late) got to love wet weather, went grocery shopping and bought some stuff to take away with us, came home unpacked, got morning tea for Dominic, then Ben came to the Toy warehouse in the next street over to buy Dom the train table and train set that was on sale (Dom will love it!), then we went straight to Big W to get Kenzie's birthday bike off layby (and some Christmas stuff I had lay byed as well).

Well McKenzie's bike ended up being too small - it said for ages 5-9 and since she's only 7 and a small 7 I thought it would be ok, but it was only 16inches (or 40cms) so I had to take the bike to returns and buy another bike (I couldn't get her another Hannah Montanah bike which is really annoying, but anyway she's still got a new bike!). This one is 20 inches so I hope it's big enough - it said from 5-8.

I also lay byed her Xmas present as I don't have anywhere to store it at the moment!

Ben dropped me off to get a spray tan (for this weekend away) and then we came home and made lunch by 12.30pm!

Kenz is meant to go to vision therapy today but they've just called to cancel. - yay!

Baby News

No, not my news. I got a message from Tania (who I had lunch with on Friday last week) that she had a baby boy today which is wonderful news. No name as yet. 7 pound 10oz - a nice weight.

A quiet day at work today - yesterday I was flat out, and today, not much at all, but at least I'm up to date with all of my archiving and work!

I got may nails manicured today - I was going to get a pedicure as well, but didn't as I needed to race around town and find something for my sister to give to her on the weekend....

I've started packing our bags for the coast too....

Rememberance Day

Today was 90 years since WW1 ended - and it's amazing and wonderful that we are still honouring those who lost their lives for us so long ago (and even of recent times).

I was pretty busy at work but I was lucky enough to catch up with the lovely Eli for lunch - I used to work for Eli and she's wonderful.

Having a really hard time trying to get Kenzie to do her Vision Therapy exercises. She just doesn't want to do them. if she didn't stuff around, it would only take about 20 minutes, but lately it's been like 30-40 minutes because she's mucking around so much.

I designed my first DVD Slideshow tonight, of Rachael's boys' Baptism and I think it's turned out pretty good. I just need to burn the disk and put a label on it and send it to her! (That will probably be next week).

And here we are, Monday again

Can't believe it's Monday already! Today I went for a facial (I cannot tell you how long it's been since I had a facial!) and had my brows waxed.

Work was fairly busy.

I am still waiting for a toy for Dom which I ordered back in August - starting to get really annoyed that it hasn't arrived yet!

I went up and did body balance at the gym tonight - it's great to do the stretches and relaxation.

Lunch with some friends

Today we had Troy and Pam and their 2 boys, and Selina & Shameem and their little girl around for lunch. Another couple were coming but weren't able to due to a family illness. We had a lovely afternoon on the deck and I ordered some Foccaccia's from the local deli and a lovely chicken and mango salad and it was really nice. I'll be ordering from them again!! Everyone had left by about 3pm, so then we had time to get things ready for work, school and child care.

Still trying to get to bed by 9.30pm but I think today will probably be the last chance I get for the week! I just have heaps of things to get organised before we head off down the coast for a couple of nights.

Saturday

Well Ben had a late start today, so it was nice to have him home until about 1pm. Earlier on, Ben's mate Kaz came around and helped move the Sofa bed from the spare bedroom downstairs up on the deck - and that thing is heavy! It looks pretty good on the deck.

In the afternoon I dressed up McKenzie and Dominic in the fair and elf outfits and took them down to the long grassy area near Spotlight. We only had about 30-45 minutes and then the rain came!!

Here's a couple of photos.

I love this one - looks like it could be on a Christmas card!


Another favourite..

Fridays are getting busier too

Today I'm dropping Kenz to school, racing over to Chermside to meet Kate to give her some money to pay for our Rainbow holiday.

Then Ben is going to come to the toy warehouse with me to look at this Train Table and train track set (as I can't carry it with Dom on my arm) and we need to find something for Kenz for Christmas too.

Then I need to finish the housework (vac and wash floors etc) and then Dominic starts his swimming lessons back at his old swim school. It's sort of silly to start him this month as we're away 2 more weekends so then we'll have to organise make up swim classes - oh well - I just really wanted him to get used to the water again before we go away to Rainbow (as the house has a pool). Kenz is doing swim classes with school on Thursdays so hopefully she will be a bit more water confident.

Thursdays are always busy!

Another crazy Thursday. I dropped Kenz off to school, dropped into the Toy Warehouse in the next street, and raced off to do the grocery shopping. I have NO idea when I'm going to make it to the gym on a Thursday morning Pump Class again!!

After shopping, I met up with my friend Tania at Cafe Mammas. It's Tania's birthday on the weekend and she is 37 weeks pregnant and she's booked in for a c-section on the 19th of November (so 2 weeks time) so it was great to spend a couple of hours with her. And they have a little play area, so Dom was happy playing with the train table and track. I aw these at the toy sale, so I might go back again tomorrow and buy one for him for Christmas.....and it should keep him (and Kenz) entertained for hours!!

Then I raced home, picked up Kenz from school and took her to Vision Therapy.

I also booked Oscar into the kennel for next weekend.

After dinner we went for a little walk as it was getting too dark.

I've been going to bed at 9.30pm all week and plan to do it next week also so I don't feel so tired at Rochelle's wedding next weekend. I'm starting to feel better for it. But I'm finding it really hard to get everything done! Like tonight I put the kids to bed, made lunch for Kenz, did a small load of ironing, did 2 quick loads of washing and did a bit of the housework (dusting, cleaning toilets etc) but I make sure I stop by 9pm, have a shower and a cup of tea and then go to bed at 9.30pm.

I'm not on the computer as much as I don't have time for it!

Mon - Wed

Just our normal Monday to Wednesday week.

Work, school, child care etc.

I went to the gym Monday night. Tuesday was Melbourne Cup (and we didn't do any good), and Wednesday was little Taya B's 4th birthday.

We've decided to go camping at the end of this month so we've asked Craig and Liz and Kristy & Adrian to come along with us.

Yay a Quiet Day

We had no plans today so it was nice to spend some time at home, just do little things around the house and not have to rush out anywhere!!

The only time we went out was when we took Oscar for a walk in the afternoon.

Christening today

This morning Dommy had me up at 5.15am (not happy about that since i didn't get to bed until 11pm). We were all up pretty early.

Anyway the kids were really happy to have Aunty Bronny around in the morning.

Muzzie and Duzzie (Ben's parents) arrived just after 9am to pick up Bron as they were going to a family reunion.

The kids and I were going to a Christening, as I was taking photos for Rachael's twins. Ben had a wedding on.

But we'll hopefully see Aunty Bronny again around Christmas time..

Anyway we headed off to North Ipswich for the Christening and I took some photos which turned out pretty good - the church was really dark, so I had some issues with trying to get the camera settings right! And because we were running a bit late, I didn't have enough time to do some extra shots to get the right exposure.

Here's some piccies.