Christmas

Hi All
Yes I am one of those annoying people who loves Christmas. I love shopping for gifts, decorating, wrapping, writing cards and everything. I am officially weird.

My last six Christmas's have been spent in the Gulf Of Carpentaria and have been great but this will be the first Christmas in about 6 years that I have spent with my mum and brothers. It will also be my FIRST ever Christmas spent with Dean. I am really looking forward to it and went overboard as usual. I also found out on Monday that Tony, Mum and Dean WILL be home for Christmas. I will explain the situation a little more for those who don't know it. Dean, Mum and my hubby are all away in N.S.W working on the construction of a wind farm near Goulbourn. Dean and Tony rotate on the same roster they work 4 weeks on and 1 week off, having a day off mid shift. Dean, Tony and mum were all due to fly back to N.S.W on Christmas eve. So to have our family Christmas we were just going to have it a few days early. However on Monday we found out they do not have to return until Boxing Day. HOORAY for us!!

We moved to Jamestown in June and in July Big W had a HUGE toy sale, so I did what any anal planner would do. I got in the car, drove to Port Augusta (were our nearest Big W is) and put all the goodies I wanted on Lay-by. I have been making regular payments and this Saturday just gone mum and Dean had the kids for the day and Tony and I drove over to Port Augusta with the trailer in-tow to collect the lay-by. I said earlier I did go overboard, but I do have a reason for it. Last year "Santa" bought my girls a trampoline for Christmas, but when we moved from QLD to S.A we did not have enough room for it and sold it. We did have full intention of replacing it however when we came across the Swing sets in the Big W catalogue we spend a little extra than planned to get it instead of a replacement trampoline. I was sure they would get more fun from a swing set anyway.

I have no idea why the picture is turned it isn't on my computer but for some reason when i uploaded it, it turned and I have no idea how to change it. I have decided not to put the slide on until the girls are bigger, I think this could cause injuries because they are only 2 and 1 and have not perfected the art of climbing yet. Those who know my girls know they are good at it, but they aren't perfect.

Here are all the presents waiting to be wrapped, there are gifts here for my nephews as well as the girls. All that is left to do now is wrap the presents and double check the battery situation. There is nothing worse than opening a toy that does not include batteries. I am sure these toys however will get pushed aside once the swing set is discovered.

I have done my tree but I the screen around it isn't doing as planned and the girls keep pushing it over. So I will redecorate the tree Christmas Eve before I put all the gifts under it. Putting any presents there early is just asking for trouble.
I have also decorated the back patio, it is hard to see but there is Christmas lights everywhere!! Bring on Christmas and the heat!! I'm sick of being cold!!

Merry Christmas Everyone

Bye For now and Happy Blogging

Bec

First Unit Nearly Over!!

Hi All
I am here, I have not fallen off the face of the earth. I have just been busy, very busy. I have completed all the set assignments for my introduction to university course all I have left to do is the exam. That is set to happen on Friday Dec 5Th and Tracy aka Mad Quilter has kindly volunteered (after I begged and promised to babysit) her husband Pete to supervise me. This of course was a huge relief to me because it meant something less to worry about.

So even though the hard part is over, my life is now revision, revision, revision. I had to resubmit my first essay because I was WAY off track but I did a lot better second time around I got a pass. The second Essay is not back and marked yet so I will keep you posted.

Bye for now and Happy Blogging
Bec

Sunsets

Hi All

I managed to get a few pics of the sunset her on Friday night, as I said my camera is not the best but they turned out OK. Finally a sunset almost worthy of those we experienced in "The Gulf of Carpentaria".This one was taken about 7pm
This was also around 7pm

This was taken later about 7.15 and I was standing on a chair so I could get a good shot.

This is the cropped version of the photo above, this is my favourite one.

This was the last one I took, after bathing the girls, it was about 7.45pm. A little blurry but you get the idea.

Bye for now and happy blogging

Bec

Dora Concert

Hi All
I know we went to the Dora concert nearly a month ago now, but I have been meaning to blog about it ever since and just have not got around to it.

Firstly I will say I am SO glad I organised a baby sitter for Brandy there is no way she would have sat through it as I had expected. As it was I had difficulty getting Mickalee to keep still. She saw all the kids and just wanted to play with them and run around. To solve this I folded her chair up so she could jump and dance in the little space in front. I was amazed at how many people struggled to get little ones to sit and watch, some babies surrounding us were under one. They were with their mums and in most cases were not accompanying an older sibling as one would have assumed. I will say though that I never heard a peep out of any of them. At a kids concert you expect a certain amount of ruckus, crying and screaming, I never heard any. Except of course when it was over and it was time to leave, lots of tots wanted more of DORA.

The performance I will say was GREAT however it was not what I expected, I assumed it would be like the pirate play DVD, which my girls have watched a million times, they know all the songs and love it but it wasn't the same. Mickalee loved it just as much though. The costumes were excellent, but I have just one question "where was Benny the bull?".

There is a little red glow above Mickalee's left shoulder, that was the stage, my camera did not like taking pictures of something so far away in the dark.

Bye for now and Happy blogging

Bec

Visitors

Hi All

It seems that this past month I have done more kilometers than you average truck driver. OK, OK that was a major exaggeration but I have been to Adelaide 3 times in for weeks. The girls and I went down for the Dora concert, which also happened to time in with Tony flying in from Canberra, so we stayed for two nights so we get some much needed summer wardrobe updating done.

I then went in again a fortnight later to pick up Tony's mum from the airport, she stayed with us for 8 days and the girls enjoyed having nanny Betty visit.

I then returned to put her back on the plane. As she had a 10 am flight we went in the day prior so we were sure not to miss her plane, I knew my kids can be unpredictable and didn't want to risk travelling from Jamestown. I pre booked the accommodation for 2 nights, as my mum was due to fly in the day Betty flew out, so the girls and I were going to spend one night with mum. As it turns out her reason for travel was cancelled and her visit fell through. I had booked accommodation at "Adelaide Shores Caravan Park", so we could be close to the airport, and when mums visit fell through I thought rather than cancel the room I would arrange to catch up with some friends instead. The facilities were wonderful and the girls had a blast in the pool.

The pool we went swimming in was .5m deep and that allowed the girls to walk freely without being held, they both fell over a few times and couldn't find there feet, but myself or friends were right behind them to pick them up.

Mickalee with my cousins Lisa and Jessie

We also had a major break though in the toilet training the day we went swimming, I thought there was no way Mickalee would tell me when she needed to go, so I just asked her regularly and hoped for the best. After being in the pool about 20 minutes she came up to me and said mummy I need to do a wee. By the time I organised someone to supervise Brandy and got out of the pool, she had gone off again with Bradley. So while Zack watched Brandy I sat with Carol thinking Mickalee had either forgotten what she needed to do, or had done it in the pool. Then to my surprise she came up to me again and repeated her need to go to the loo. So I took her. I honestly thought to myself that this would be one of those times you took her and she didn't do anything, but to my surprise she did. My two and half year old got out of a pool to wee. OMG!! I was so excited for her.

Anyway, back on the road again next week, need to go back in on Wed to get Tony off the plane, then he is home for a week, so back in again to put him back on it.

Bye for now and happy blogging

Bec

My baby is talking

Hi All

My Weenie One is not so Weenie anymore

Brandy is now 18 nealry 19 months old and is finally getting some more words out. I am sure Mickalee was talking in sentences by this age, but she was always a chatter box. Brandy has been saying mum and dad for quite a while, but it seems in the last few weeks she has come along in leaps and bounds. So I thought I would share a video with you all of her new found words. Enjoy!

This video is probably more for those who know us and have not seen the kids in a while. Brandy now weighs more than Mickalee but is not quiet as tall as her yet. They share clothes and Mickalee hates it. I am sure this drama will only get worse as they get older. LOL!!! I shall look forward to it. NOT!!

Bye for now and happy blogging

Bec

Ram and Ewe Ball

Hi All

On Saturday night a majority of our small town got "frocked" up for the "Ram & Ewe" desperate and dateless ball. Yes I know I am married but I just couldn't pass up a night out complete with a chance to wear a pretty dress. I got to wear a red arm band to show others I was spoken for. The tickets prior to the night were $40.00, then on the night at the door they were $50.00. I am still not 100% sure what I expected on the night, but I do know the function we attended wasn't it.

To begin with the single people were all given green arm bands with a number on them and if you found your matching number you both went to the bar and received a free drink. OK sounds easy, right!! It wasn't!! The arm bands were covered by shirt sleeves, facing the wrong way or completely missing. When they were visible you had to be about 2 Inches from the band to read the number in the dark. Ridiculous!! The food for the evening was "Generic" brand chips in plastic containers randomly placed around the venue. Or you could get a satay stick or steak sandwich from the food tent out the back. A steak sandwich is just what you feel like eating when you dressed up in a ball gown. Someone obviously thought this through also. I hate to whinge but it really has put me off even thinking about attending next year, also people who I see between now and then who ask will no doubt get my honest opinion. There was no best dressed awards, or lucky door prizes, and the only attempt to raise money was a very small people auction consisting of 4 entrants. If there was a little more planning I am sure local businesses would have happily donated items to be auctioned for the chosen charity, (which I won't name) but I only heard it mentioned once. Drinks were purchased with a ticket system, which I found had good and bad points. The bar people didn't have to handle money, so that meant quick easy service, however I came home with 5 tickets, as I found I couldn't exchange them before I left.

I have to share a story with you regarding an incident on the night, this could not have been avoided by anybody, except the man with the vulgar mouth, but I thought I would share it all the same. My feet were getting tired and very sore from heels, as I don't often wear them and my friend and I went to find a seat. When we went outside we saw a bench occupied by 2 men. I approached them and asked if they would mind scooting over so we could also sit down. To which I got "That depends do you swallow?" needless to say we didn't sit there. Also point out that this guy went home ALONE!!Any guesses why.?

Me with Mickalee before I had gone out.

I wore my wedding dress, I knew having a different colour to white would allow me to wear again.
MissA having a ball

I would like to finish on a high note, all the volunteers behind the bar, in the food tent, on the door and tickets sales were all very nice and did great jobs. The band also was very good and everyone had a good time dancing and singing along. My highlight of the night however was crawling or was it falling into bed at 3am.

Bye for now and happy blogging

Bec