Christmas

The girls finally got their wish yesterday, and that was to put the Christmas tree up!

More pics to follow!

Dance Concert 2010

the three girls together!

Another enthralling concert is over!

The last two nights have seen the girls dance their hearts out in some gorgeous costumes!

Poor Ruby was pretty unwell for the first one but was back to herself last night and enjoyed it, just as any ballerina should!

Ruby's ballet class danced to "The Fairies"

Ruby won the trophy for her ballet class!

Well done Ruby!

Kate in her tap costume - they tapped to Ït's a Small World"

Kate wore a costume representing Rio de Junero

She also won the trophy in her tap class (one is awarded for each class)

which she was absolutely thrilled about!

Well done Kate! 

 Kate in her singing costume.

They sang Madonna's "Four Minutes"

Kate & Ella in their beautiful ballet costumes, 

they danced to Ariel from The Little Mermaid

Fun Day

 We had planned to do The Big Walk today raising money for children with cancer but due to Ella having a vomitting bug yesterday and the walk beginning at 8am this morning, we decided it was a safe bet to cancel.

She was well today (the vomitting stopped at about 7pm) she didn't have the energy for a big walk so we headed up the hill from us to enjoy the Zig Zag Community Arts Fesitival.

It was packed due to it being such nice weather (28 deg) We stayed a few hours and the girls took part in alot of the free activities, we ate hotdogs while watching some cheerleaders entertain us. Unfortunately the batteries ran flat on the camera so only got a few photos.

Home-made liquid soap

Today I made a batch of liquid soap (recipe here) 

It was super easy and fun to make

I can't wait to try it out!

Gardening

We have been spending alot of our weekend time in the garden lately.

Soon it will be too hot to get out there except early mornings and evenings so we are making the most of the spring weather.

We transplanted the vegetable plants yesterday, they have been growing so well in the pots we grew from seed, but are now running out of room

We've had plenty of strawberries to eat, they were delicious.

We only have 5 roses at the front of the house. We were going to rip them out (and probably still will when we decide what to replace them with) but have left them for now. The climate here is not really suitable for roses in my opinion. Too hot and too dry.

Gardening is such an expensive hobby though, we don't have much luck growing from a cutting, so we have to buy the plants and all the nurseries around here cost and arm and a leg!

Day Sixteen

We had a quiet home day today. Ella woke up in a grump, so we decided the best thing for all was to stay home.

We got the Wii out today, the girls got played on it 2 wks ago, but I haven't been on for yonks. Anyway, I did a one hour workout which was a good way to start the day. The girls played on & off it for the rest of the morning. 

After my shower, I cleaned up Ella's room and made a basket I had lying around into a cute basket for her hairbrushes and hairties etc. 

Her cupboard was full of junk so we cleaned it out and the basket fits just nicely! Let's hope she keeps it packed away when not in use!

 I picked her up this white bedroom chair on Friday from The Reject Shop, it fits nicely in the corner, as well as these pretty tree lights.

I hung up the dream catcher where it should be!

And moved her much loved and popular ZuZu pets to a better spot!

Now Ella is a happy camper!

 

Day Fifteen

 

It's been a very ordinary Saturday with Jonah & Ruby here and me just looking after the kids and house!

The girls had the hose on the trampoline when they got hot (Ruby had gone to her swimming lesson with her other grandparents) 

Ella is off to a birthday party for a school friend this afternoon.

Hope everyone else is having a lovely Saturday!

Day Fourteen

The girls went to the final morning at the holiday program dressed as vampires. Ella had to wear her new dress that she picked out last night shopping and she had lost her fangs at home somewhere. Nevermind, my girls love to dress up! They made delicious sausage rolls there amongst craft and games. I can't believe these holidays are coming to an end so quickly!

Day Twelve & Thirteen

I didn't do a post yesterday as I wasn't feeling one hundred per cent. The girls went to the holiday program in the morning, after we picked Phil up from the airport. Once home, Phil went to work, I lay down and tried to sleep. It was unsuccessful, so it was an early night for me.

Today, we went and looked after Jonah & Ruby, visiting the park again. Today we didn't stay as long as it was 30 deg so a bit warm. I forgot to take the camera today.

Now Kate has gone to a sleepover for a friends birthday. Hopefully she'll be okay as she's a real homebody and has hardly stayed away from us before.

Day Eleven

Today was a shopping day!

We were going to catch the train but I talked them out of it. We had a rather long list of what we needed to buy and I didn't want to be carrying it back on the train. I told them we could stay longer at the shops if we could off load to the car every now and then.

So what did we buy?
New pj's for the girls (as modelled in the photos)
underwear for all
two birthday presents for upcoming parties the girls are going to
new hairbrushes, swimming goggles and thongs
a shirt for me, shorts for Ella and shoes for Kate
some bits for halloween dressup at the holiday program on Friday
a few groceries
and some holiday goodies for the girls - another Zuzu pet each and 3 sets of lego (small ones!)

We also had lunch and got Ella's fringe cut so she can see again!

Day Ten

The girls went back to the holiday program again this morning. They are loving it so much. Today they played a game of squash for the first time and really enjoyed it. I potted around at home cleaning the bathroom, washing and a bit of gardening.

After I picked them up at lunchtime, they were super motivated so set about cleaning the car inside & out, cleaning their rooms, baking (they were going to make gingerbread men but after mixing up the dough couldn't find the cutters so made their own shapes) then they went through Ella's drawers & wardrobe together and got rid of all the clothes that she didn't fit/want.

That was followed by them watching all their old dancing concert dvd's and dressing in the costumes and dancing around. They've had a very busy day and haven't fought once!

Finally they spent a good hour playing with the lego!




Now they are watching a movie peacefully together. I love days like these!

Day Nine

Ella mentioned last night at dinner that she would like to go to the Zoo these holidays.
So we had today free after taking Phil to the airport at 6am.
We decided to give Amie some time to herself and picked up Jonah (Ruby was having 3 sleeps with her other Grandparents so it meant Amie really was getting a break!)

It was Jonah's first time at the zoo and he loved what he saw. Everytime we put him down though he would run and keep on running. I think he wore his Aunties out!

We saw many signs around the place that were new since our last visit 18mths ago.
I only took photos of a few, but you get the idea.

Kate was our tour guide of the day, so we just followed where she wanted to go.

Jonah gets his first look at a giraffe

it's hard work keeping up the pace of a 13mth old

a sausage tree!

onto the zebras

a new information board for the kids

Candy floss!

a quick slide of course

some of the signs we saw

it's traditional the girls get a photo on this elephant says Kate