Love the hair!!!!

Love this shot with Ella.
All Jonah really wanted was the Teletubbie but Ella wouldn't let him!

Weekend Getaway

We had a lovely weekend away in Mandurah (an hour south of Perth) for the final days of the school holidays. After all the rain we had last week, we were lucky to have beautiful weather. The apartment was gorgeous and the view, just stunning.
The girls swam at the pool and beach, we went on a 3hour walk right up to the town centre, visited the markets, played at the play ground, and soaked up the atmosphere.
Phil is in the middle of a 2 week course, so spent a fair bit of the weekend studying. The girls and I had plenty to do though, so it was great. We went to the movies Saturday night too (walking distance) to see The Last Song. Ella fell asleep 10 minutes after it started (it must have been the 3 hr walk that morning and playing at the beach/pool all afternoon) Kate & I enjoyed it though. Phil walked down and met us after it finished as it was dark by then.
Today we shopped for some winter clothes while we had the opportunity. It's hard to pin Phil down to clothes shop and he desperately needed some new clothes.
The girls got some new bits and bobs from Smiggle - their favourite stationery store.
Back into routine tomorrow with the return of tap dancing, and back to school on Tuesday.

The fancy hot chocolates that looked too good to drink!

The view from the balcony

Building sandcastles

The view from the front of the hotel

School Holidays

The girls have been loving the cooler weather that autumn brings
jumping for hours on trampoline
lots of fresh air
eating outside on the grass
playing in the rain
wearing themselves out

Celebrating the big Four-Zero!

We left home early today and headed down the coast to Rockingham where we caught the ferry over to Penguin Island. A glass-bottom boat was waiting for us on arrival for a tour over to see the sea lions (we only saw one) and a running commentary about the area. It was quite interesting, but our kids were a bit too young to take it all in.
Then we arrived back on Penguin Island where we had a picnic lunch and the kids had a paddle in the cool waters. Then it was off to see the Penguin Feeding show. Unfortunately the kids got fidgety because it was so busy and they could barely see. But a lovely time was had anyway.
Very tired kids tonight, all that sea air should make them sleep well.
It was a great way to spend the day with the special people in my life on my birthday.

Easter Sunday

The girls were super excited went they went to bed last night in anticipation of the Easter Bunny coming. Kate, the ever fastidious one made us tidy up the whole house. She would not let me sit down until the kitchen sparkled, the floors gleamed and everything was put away in its place! Bless her! Then she went straight to bed ahead of Ella and was soon sound asleep. The only downside of that was that she woke at 4am and wanted to go on an egg hunt. I, of course said no, so she hopped into bed with me and chatted nearly non-stop until Ella came in at 6am. Then they were into it! They loved looking for all the eggs and collecting them in the baskets they made earlier this week. It's also become somewhat a tradition they get new winter pyjamas too. This year they were extra lucky and got dressing gowns and ugg boots! Ruby & Jonah spent the day with us as Amie had to work. The kids played outside nearly all day (got to love this cooler weather) in their little tent. They even managed to get Jonah to sit in it, that was until he spied something better to explore!

A Day Out in the City

We had a lovely day out in the city this morning. The girls wanted to do some shopping and picked the city to go to. Of course we had to go on the train. We wandered around a bit before buying a few things. Bought some lunch and sat in the sun and watched the people go by. A bit more wandering around and then we caught the train home again. The city was really busy being a long weekend, but the train was pretty empty.

A lovely way to end the term

Kate & Ella both received Honours Certificates at today's assembly. This is the first time this has happened.

Ella received hers for: Excellent writing and great use of punctuation!


Kate received hers for: Always displaying an exemplary standard of behaviour and for completing her English tasks with great detail. You are a great role model for your peers Kate. Well done!

Then the Year One's and Two's held their Easter hat parade. This is my last year of having a child in this, nice after 4 years continually making hats.

Next year I will be able to sit back at watch Ruby parade, except I won't have to make the hat.

The photos are dark that were taken today, will try to lighten them later and post.