Day One Hundred and Fifty Two

The joys of playing football, you always leave the field with less skin than when you started!

Day One Hundred and Fifty One

After a busy day, sandwiches and a piece of fruit were on the dinner menu. 

"But I don't want my crust!" complained Bella. 

Before I could respond, Jada yelled 

"I''ll have it! I want my hair more curly!" She then proceeded to sit down and eat all of the crusts, 

   bless her.

Day One Hundred and Fifty

Today Mum and I (well mostly Mum) made some finishing touches to the girls toy room. We made a foam top for the toy box and added matching material to the baskets and chair. I also bought some green boxes for organising their school things, and have put up some hooks for them to hang their coats. It is finally coming together and looks much fresher with the new colours. Now if it could only stay looking like this .. !

Day One Hundred and Forty Nine

One of the best things about living in Canberra is the change of Seasons. 

This tree in Mum and Dad's front yard looks resplendent today!

Day One Hundred and Forty Eight

Today we went out to lunch to celebrate Poppy Kenny's Birthday, the youngest 75 year old I know. I hope I have inherited his amazing never-aging genes and zest for life. To quote the famous poet Merv Gaul : "75 and still alive!"... 

indeed he is!

Day One Hundred and Forty Seven

The eldest and youngest grandchild having cuddles together.

Day One Hundred and Forty Six

Tonight Dad came over to help Trevor hang some of our pictures. After months of having no pictures on the walls I have been waiting to complete our house and make it feel more like a home. This is one of my favourite pictures that was painted by my talented Aunty Raylee.

 I feel happier and more at home already with my red shoes hanging on the wall.

One Hundred and Forty Five

Today Bella was so tired from her performance and had such a sore throat (apparently) that I let her stay home from school. She came with me to get my nails done and she chose a blue sparkly colour for hers. She also helped me with the grocery shopping and in the afternoon we watched Scooby Doo 2 together. It was nice to have her at home on her own while Jada was at pre-school, and she is excited to go to school tomorrow to show off her nails!

Day One Hundred and Forty Four

Tonight Bella performed in her school choir as part of the Queanbeyan Choral Festival. I was really bummed that due to Child Protection Laws I wasn't allowed to take a single photo! Her school performed marvellously and she looked so serious and attentive in her singing. The small schools ruled the night but all the kids did a great job considering they had been there all day. Nanna Karen, Helen, Maureen and Pa all came to watch. Trevor and I were so proud, and he didn't even mind missing the first half of State of Origin for such a memorable night!

Day One Hundred and Forty Three

This week I have been on an organising rampage. From kitchen cupboards to baby clothes and bathrooms, I have been ruthless in my cleaning! I guess my nesting symptoms have come early, or maybe the fact that I'm not working as much has turned my attention to all the things that need doing!

Day One Hundred and Forty Two

Tonight while we were entertaning family and friends for dinner, Bella made this life sized girl. She used all sorts of materials found in her bedroom, including: "tracksuit pants, a pair of shoes, paper hands, short jeans, a t-shirt, a long sleeved shirt, scissors, a sticky note pad, a painting pad, a necklace, 3 coins, pink pebbles and a blue pipe cleaner" What a creative and resourceful child I have!

Day One Hundred and Forty One

A freezing cold Sunday in Canberra ... what a better way to spend it then watching a family movie together? Especially when the movie is Space Jam!

Day One Hundred and Forty

Stay tuned for a double bump baby shower pic .. !

Day One Hundred and Thirty Nine

These boots were made for walking ... Today we had a very busy day that included shopping for some new winter boots and jumpers that fit over my bump! I loved the colour and flatness of these Jane Debster boots and tried them out tonight at the Pre-school Disco. They passed the comfort test but I'm not sure I passed as a volunteer painting children's faces. Let's just say I was more than embarrassed to ask the parents to pay!

Day One Hundred and Thirty Eight

Baby Thurling at 24 Weeks! This week's pregnancy highlights include:
Indigestion

Heart Burn

Fatigue

Struggling to bend over and pick things up from the floor

On a more positive note, Trevor and the kids can now feel her moving and see my belly moving when she kicks!

Day One Hundred and Thirty Seven

Tonight Bella read her and Jada's library books. Since I have been reading to them everynight, they have shown more interest in books and are asking me to to read them more often. I can't wait until Bella can listen to Jada read next year.

Day One Hundred and Thirty Six

Today was Bella's last horse riding lesson. With the cold setting in, Winter sports starting and me losing energy by the day, we decided to finish up her lessons for now. Jada, Trevor and I all headed out to watch her take the reigns for the last time. She has learnt so much and become much more confident around horses. I'm sure she will come back to it sometime in the future.

Day One Hunderd and Thirty Five

Happy 5th Birthday Riley!! This afternoon we celebrated my nephew Riley's 5th birthday with a cake at Nanna Karen's. The kids all gathered around excitedly to sing Happy Birthday and then ... "POP!" the candles popped one of the balloons and made all the candles blow out!! The adults found this hilarious .. the kids not so much!

Day One Hundred and Thirty Four

Happy Mother's Day! This afternoon we attended a "High Tea" that was hosted by my beautiful niece Jessica. We were greeted at the door and our coats were hung. We then had our tea orders taken and delivered on a trolley. The food was amazing with macaroons, slice, cupcakes and sandwiches. It was such a lovely time, and so nice to spend it relaxing with my Mum, Sister and Nan. I hope we get to do it again next year, thanks Jesse!

Day One Hundred and Thirty Three

This afternoon we headed out to AMF for some bowling to celebrate Riley's Birthday. The kids are waiting patiently in this picture for the game to start. We purchased two games, not thinking about the actual logistics of children bowling. Each turn we had to find and retreive the child from the games/candy bar/toilet! This meant that the first game took almost three hours! Although it was long it was so much fun, and even more so because I got to spectate and enjoy all the food that everyone kept buying!

Day One Hundred and Thirty Two

Tonight Trevor and I headed off to Cooma to attend a fundraising dinner. My friend Katie was hosting the dinner along with an ex-Brumbies player (that she has been patiently teaching to dance for their upcoming benefit night!) It is nice to be invited to these kind of functions to support the community, and to even better to support a friend this time!

Day One Hundred and Thirty One

You are the sunshine of my life, 

that's while I'll always be around,

You are the apple of my eye, 

forever you'll stay in my heart.

Day One Hundred and Thirty

Happy Birthday Aunty Cathy! Tonight we had another of our epic family dinners to celebrate my Aunty Cathy's birthday. The food was outrageously good with lasagne, quiche, chicken michaela, tuna bake and KFC amongst the main courses. For dessert we had some of Trevor's famous caramel slice (I'm hoping to get some for Mother's Day!) and Aunty Mer's  Roly Poly. Jada and Bella refused to get in the birthday/blog photo, so Trevor gladly volunteered for a Santa style photo! .. Can't decide who enjoyed it more!

Day One Hundred and Twenty Nine

You know you're pregnant when ..

You start eating your children's dinner they didn't eat

You have to literally roll to get up off the lounge or bed

People ask when you're due and gasp with dilated pupils when you say "September"

You have to start wearing your boyfriends clothes ..

Day One Hundred and Twenty and Eight

Tonight we had a birthday dinner for my lovely sister-in-law Kathy. Monday night is probably not the best night to take children out in public for dinner (is any night?) as they were very tired, and by the end were crawling under tables and on chairs. Luckily Harry didn't seem to mind and slept through most of it. Can't wait until he is old enough to join them .. a bit of payback for my brother!! Happy Birthday Kathy!! xx

Day One Hundred and Twenty Seven

Today Mum and I started our designing and making of hair things for little girls. It took us awhile to get the knack of it, but once we sort out some designs and a method, I'm sure it will be much easier (and quicker!). We hope to eventually sell them at local markets and possibly through a Facebook page or web site. We would also like to extend into making other things such as singlets, bibs, t-shirts and any other ideas we come up with on the way .. Lucky for us we have lots of little girls to try them out on!

Day One Hundred and Twenty Six

This afternoon Jada helped me to clean the baby furniture that Trevor had brought over from Mum and Dad's. The cot set is nearly ten years old and was purchased when we found out we were having Bella. Although it is now showing some signs of age, I think they add character and hint to the childhoods past, of bottles thrown and baby teeth chewed on rails. This is the first step we've taken to prepare for the baby. I guess it's true what they say about the third; by this stage with Bella I'm sure I had bought everything she could have possibly ever needed and more and had it all set up in perfect preparation. I'm smart enough to know by now that you'll never be prepared for a baby! You will notice that the room is painted blue, and yes we did paint it before we found out the sex. Despite popular belief, we did not paint it with hopes of having a boy. It was previously a different shade of blue and Jada had used the room as her nursery. I'm not a strong believer in 'pink is for girls and blue is for boys', I often dressed the girls in blue and red and green and was often was asked "what's his name?" As we went to leave the room Jada stood looking at the cot forlornly, I think she really wanted to get in and lie down just to see what it was like. I hope that the baby likes it a lot more than she did.

Day One Hundred and Twenty Five

Today was spent carrying out one of my busy days from the calendar above! It went a little something like this:

6.45 Get up and have shower

7.00 Get myself and kids breakfast

7.15 Dress children

7.30 Make three lunches

7.45 Make beds

8.00 Put on face and do hair

8.15 Do children's hair and brush teeth

8.25 Attempt to leave house, return for jug of warm water for ice on windscreen

8.30 Leave house

8.35 Arrive at school two children in tow (no car spaces in staff car-park have to park down the side of school)

8.40 De-brief of days activities (teaching three classes)

8.50 Take Jada to front of school to meet Bree and send her off to pre-school (tired yet?!)

9.00 Bell goes for first class

11.00 15 minute recess with 10 minute briefing of next class's lessons from their teacher

11.15 Put 22 8 year olds through gruelling circuit for P.E.

11.30 Back to class - teaching 9 year old's to write a persuasive text on Recycling

1.00 Lunch time - finally get to sit down

1.30 Off to get briefed for last class of the day

1.45 Teach last class for the day

3.00 Home time (yay!!) -find Bella and Jesse to take home

3.15 Meet Mum at home to swap Jada for Jesse

4.00 Mum leave's and both girls go with her (phew!)

4.15 I fall asleep

5.30 Wake-up and have a shower to wash my hair for the first time this week (eww!)
6.15 Dad brings the girls home - put their pajamas on

6.30 Cook dinner- Friday night = Oven chips and nuggets

7.00 Eat dinner 

7.30 Hang washing

8.00 Put girls to bed-Read a chapter of "The Folk of the Faraway Tree"

8.30 Fold washing and put it away/ Get out clothes for Bella's dance class tomorrow

9.00 Sit down and watch TV with Trevor (mostly football!)

10.30 GO TO BED!!!

Sadly it would probably have been even busier if I had stayed home .. !

Day One Hundred and Twenty Four

Tonight I got to have cuddles with Harry while we had dinner at Mum's house. Dad made home pizza and all the family was there to enjoy it (except Uncle Ricky who had soccer training, and Trevor who was working, unlucky!). Harry is getting so big and now smiles and talks to you (with a fair bit of prompting!). Won't be long and he'll be sitting up having a drink and playing Euchre with all the other males in our family!

Day One Hundred and Twenty Three

Tonight I started reading the girls one of my favourite childhood books. They enjoyed the first chapter so much that Jada threw a tantrum and demanded that I keep reading, because she wanted to know what happened next.. I hope that they will grow up loving books as much as I do.

Day One Hundred and Twenty Two

Today Mum and I bought some more materials to design and make our own hair clips and headbands. Obviously I will be doing the designing and Mum will be doing the making! Here are some that Mum has made already. Hopefully we will find the time to live out this creative impulse .. Stay tuned for the results!!