This is the end…..

of 2007, a great year for us as a family. We got to welcome the super cute Miss Matilda to the family, Declan had an amazing year at Kinder and Riley, well Riley kept us entertained and on our toes.  Thankfully he seems to be growing out of “that” stage and is becoming a little calmer and happier (Yippee).  Steve started a new job which is going really well, although he works ALOT . He has spent a bit of time riding his dirt bike which he absolutely loves and managed to survive with no major injuries.  I have had a busy busy year. I started 2007 heavily pregnant and running between Kinder, Speech Therapy, Playgroup, Swimming etc.  I managed to get through childbirth for the 3rd and definately last time and then continued to run between Kinder, Speech……….  I had a little health scare but its all good now and it will hopefully be fully sorted by the end of January.

We have lots of wonderful plans for 2008. Time to pack up the Santa Tree (as the boys would say), and prepare for the new year ahead. I am not one to make resolutions as such but find that its a good time to remind myself to be a little healthier and take more time to just enjoy life. 

Hope you all end 2007 safely and may 2008 be an amazing year for all of us

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Helen xxxxx

A new Blog.

Just wanted to let you all know I have a new blog!. Its called Kiddies Kreations and it will record and show you all the wonderful artwork and bits and pieces that the children do. If  I was clever I would include a link with this post but I am not so you will have to click on the link under “blogs I read”.

Helen xxx

A photo catch up

With all thats been going on the last week, I feel the need to catch up on a couple of photos I would like to share.

Here are a couple of one of the storms that hit us last week.  I must say the the weather is a real interest of mine, I just love watching it change so quickly (maybe I should get a life!!!!)

Anyway here is the storm approaching

and this is when it hit! The photo does not really do it any justice. The wind was so strong and I was very glad that we are on the high side of the street.

Here is Riley doing what every child does atleast once, trying on mums lipstick. Do you think its his shade?. Of course he did pick my favourite and most expensive lipstick to try.

and here is a photo of Matilda trying out one of her new toys. How cute is she???.

Helen. xxxxx

Ho…Ho…………….Ho…phew!

Thank goodness that is over for another year!.  We have had an amazing few days but boy am I ready for a nap.  The rain finally stopped so I could start to get outside ready for the big day. We survived the weather (all 130mm of it!) but Steves work was not so lucky

Anyway Chirstmas Eve was spent madly cleaning and getting ready for the following day. We then headed off for our Traditional Christmas Eve Party which was fantastic (Thanks Woodsies). The night is filled with children laughing, plenty of yummy food, a spa, Santa and of course Pressies.

We got home rather late, as usual, left our reindeer food out (thanks Cam and Mitchell) and headed off to bed. We all must have been very good this year as Santa left us lots of goodies. Matilda was more interested in eating the wrapping but the boys were on cloud 9. They received lots of Lego, cars,  games, bike helmets and the list goes on. Once the lounge room was completely filled with paper and gifts it was time to clean up and start cooking lunch.

We got cleaned up just in time for the family to arrive and do it all over again!.  It was a really good day, lunch was delicious and for once I didnt stuff myself stupid.  Even Butch joined in the festivities.  Luckily we didnt have to head anywhere for tea as it took me until 8:30 that night to clean up!. Finally collapsed into bed around 9:30 which is very early for me.

Boxing Day was spent washing, cleaning, unpacking toys from all that over the top packaging and shopping. Yes I did brave the sales and managed to bag a few bargains.

Time to recharge for New Years Eve.

Hope you all had a Christmas as wonderful as mine.

Helen xxxxx

{…Merry Christmas…}

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas

and may 2008 be an amazing year

for you all.

Love Helen, Steve, Declan, Riley and Matilda

x x x x x

Joshua Scott RIP

2 years ago today, one of my other babies passed away.

Joshua Scott 1998 – 2005

Greatly missed by all the family, especially Butch.

xxxxxx

Stuck in a moment…..

Well this week has been busy, flat out even, and I have mananged to achieve very little. I feel that I am in the biggest rut at the moment

I seem to spend a HUGE portion of every day cleaning, washing, folding etc and getting nowhere. I am struggling to keep the house tidy at the moment, let alone clean.

I have spent so many hours at the shops, frantically trying to get all the Christmas shopping done and I still plan to go today and tomorrow. When will it end? 

Steve is working all weekend, 11-12 hours a day, which makes it even harder to get anything done. 

OK so now I have that off my chest, here is an update on this week.

Tuesday I had to go to Mordy to pick up one of Steves Christmas presents so the kiddies and I did lunch by the channel and watched the boats and fish. It was not as relaxing as it sounds. I was on edge the whole time as the boys insisted on sitting right beside the water.

Wednesday was a very emotional day as Declan had to say goodbye to his Kinder teachers and friends. There were a few tears from the teachers and the mums. It was very hard to walk out that door for the last time with him.

Earlier in the day he met his teacher for Prep next year. He has Miss McNaughton (sp?). She was on the top of my list so really happy that he is going to be in her class. He also has some lovely friends from Kinder in with him so it should be a fantastic year.

Thursday was going to be catch up day at home but instead we spent 2 hours at the doctors. Riley has croup and an infected foot, thanks to his eczema.  Tilly has a virus and is getting 2 teeth so she is just a ball of snot and dribble! Not much got achieved in the afternoon with 2 sick kids.

Friday was going to be catch up day at home but instead we headed to get some photos printed (for a special Christmas present for the Kiddies from my parents) and also back to Kinder to pick up some toys we ordered. We managed to see one of Declans Kinder teachers so had to do the emotional goodbye all over again. Did a little housework but now I am full of a cold and feel pretty crappy.

Lets hope I manage to achieve more over the weekend. Hope you all have a good one.

Helen xxxxx

Where did that week go?

I really love Christmas and yet I hate it all at the same time. This time of year just gets so busy with everything going on and I secretly crave January, when its all over, and we can re-charge and get ready for the New Year.

On Sunday Steve and I took the kiddies to Melbourne for the day. We went by train which the boys thought was fantastic. Our first stop was the Casino to see the Christmas Light Show.  It was beautiful and even Tilly seemed to enjoy it, lots of goos and gaas. We then had a lovely “proper” sit down lunch and headed to see the Myer windows. We decided to take a tram, (not so much fun with a pram!), which the boys kept calling a Pram????. Oh boy we got into an interesting conversation about that one. Anyway didnt see alot of the windows as it was very very busy so Steve popped the boys on his shoulders so they could see a little.  Did a bit of shopping, saw all the entertainers and Santa trees along the way and a great day was had by all.

What was the highlight for the boys I hear you ask. Well they were quite partial to the groovy writing along the train lines, yes the graffiti!!!!  They were also pretty excited about all the Christmas decorations and the train and tram. Declan did ask if we could go on a plane and bus as well that day (typical boys!)

Yesterday was the last day of playgroup and also the Kinder concert and graduation. In the middle of all that we did also manage to get Declan his school uniform (will post pics of that later).  I think I managed to sit down at around 9pm last night, whilst I was eating my dinner!.

Declan did really well at the Concert. He actually took part and sang along unlike previous events. He received his graduation certificate and his teachers had put together a couple of folders for each child, one with a collection of their artwork and one with photos from their year at Kinder. They are just lovely and the teachers had put so much work into these.

I am starting to get really emotional about Declan finishing Kinder (he has his last class tomorrow). I am so excited about him starting school and growing up (and I know he will love it), but I just think his Kinder teachers are wonderful and I am very sad about him not spending time with them anymore    . His whole Kinder year has been so much fun and I just hope that his first year at school is just as special.  His teachers are being moved (thanks to the local council) to other Kinders as of next year so there is no chance that Riley will be with them in 2 years.

On a brighter note, Riley got accepted to 3YO Kinder for next year and is so excited about starting. Declan has his final school orientation tomorrow, where he gets to meet his teacher and class mates for next year and Tilly is getting tooth #5 !  I have almost finished my Christmas shopping, only a couple of pressies to go (December 19th is my deadline), oh and I got to go out with the girls and scrap on Friday night which was lovely (thanks girls).

Helen xxxxx

We are going to see the Foo!!!!!

YAY we got tickets to see the Foo Fighters today .  We saw the ad on TV on the weekend but they were playing on Matildas 1st birthday so we decided to give it a miss (have already seen them twice before). Anyway in the middle of Christmas shopping with Riley and Tilly today Steve calls to say concert 1 sold out in about 5 minutes and concert 2 for the following night was just going on sale.

Everyone in Kmart thought I was completely mad as I grabbed Riley and saying  ”RUN RUN RUN!” . With that we did the bolt down to the newsagents where the tickets were on sale. His poor little legs were going so fast and just kept saying “hurry, hurry once we get tickets you can have a chocolate!”. We managed to get 2 tickets,  on the floor (so we can get all squished up the front just like the good old days) for a measley $100 each.  From what I hear this is now considered pretty cheap! . Oh well, Merry Christmas to Steve and Helen , Love Santa.

Helen xxx

The week so far.

Wow its been pretty busy around here this week ( I guess you are all thinking the same thing!) so I will try and make this a quick update.

Sunday we celebrated Steves birthday (which was actually Monday but he had a 12 hour shift so we got in a day early). Firstly he spent the day trying out his new birthday present, some pants and jersey for riding. Here he is modelling them for us! Maybe Riley should get an outfit like that to ride his bike as well. He managed to split his chin AGAIN. Grrrr

Anyway, after  he came home hot and exhausted I packed them all into the car and we headed to the beach for tea. I know I said in a previous post that we are not really beach people, especially Declan (hates the sand/water combination) well of course they all had to make a liar out of me and have a ball!!!!. After the traditional fish and chips we headed down to the water and within 5 minutes the 2 boys were down to their ”gundies” (jocks) and in the water.  I have some cute pics but wont post to save any unwanted visitors (IYKWIM). Instead I will share a pic of Tilly experiencing the beach for the first time.

Monday was the usual Playgroup, Kinder, Shoppping day with and cake and presents for Steve added in the evening.

Tuesday we went to Myuna Farm on behalf of Casey Council. They throw a free party at the end of every year for all families in Playgroup within the City of Casey. Again the kids all enjoyed themselves (Steve and I did too!). Their favourite part was the train ride down to feed the ducks.

Its now Wednesday (or Crazy Wednesday as its known in this house!), with Kinder, more shopping, visits to Grandma and Opa, swimming and then grocery shopping. Phew. 

Might stop and take a breath before tomorrow starts

Helen