House

before

This week we have had the roof men here restoring our roof. It's been the original early seventies roof which has held up exceptionally well, even through Perth's storm last Monday, we didn't get a single leek. They made roofs well in those days. Anyway the roof took four days to complete. We chose a green colour (a bit of a change from the white) and it looks fantastic. The photos don't really do it justice, the light was wrong, but Kate was feeling poorly (she now has the vomiting bug Ella had last weekend) so I was in a hurry.
The gutterings still need to be painted, we opted to do it ourselves and save some dollars.

after

Friendship Boxes

I had an idea for the girls to make friendship boxes in the hope they when they are mean to each other that they can go to their boxes and what's inside will reflect what they really feel about each other. The idea is that at anytime they can pop something nice into their sisters box - a handwritten note how special they are, a small toy, a drawing - anything that will make the other happy. When they are fighting they will be sent to their rooms to look through their boxes and hopefully it will make them realise how special having a sister is. Fingers crossed.

The drought has broken

After four long months without rain, yesterday the skies opened up and down it came in force. We were lucky where we live, no damage at all, but we were without power for 13hrs (from 4pm to 5am) which didn't really worry the girls at all. They love the opportunity to use their torches for real.

Sickness in the house!

Yesterday Ella woke with a sore tummy, and as the day wore on she moaned and groaned more until the vomiting started. Then came a blinding headache and high temp. So she of course stayed home from school today even though she is better (she was better by bedtime last night) There is a bug doing the rounds at school, last week had kids away and there was only 10 at school in her class today.
Poor wee Jonah is sick too, but of a different kind. Poor thing has pneumonia. Not sure where he got it from, he didn't even have a hint of a cold. This is the first time he's been sick in his little life, and oh what a thing to have.

New Brightenings

I saw these gorgeous pictures for Ella's room last year before we painted it for her. I layby'd four of the six prints and then forgot all about them. So on Thursday I went and picked them up. Ella decided to share two of them with Kate, even though they don't really fit the theme/colour of her room they still look lovely.

Library Love

I go to the library two or three times a week as it's right next door to where the girls go to dancing, so I pop in to kill time and check out what new books I can borrow. The girls get to go sometimes too, but often I will pick out some for them (Kate often gives me a list) They love the library as much as me.

This is what I'm currently working my way through:

Do you love to visit the library? What are you currently reading?

Baby Jonah plays with the dolls (5mths old)

These photos were taken a couple of weeks ago when I was looking after him one day. He snuck into Ella's bedroom and was fascinated with the baby in the cot. Loved putting the dummy in and out of its mouth ~ and his!!! I think we need to invest in some boys toys.

Corymbia Festival

We went along yesterday to the annual festival in our suburb to ride the camels, rides, eat fairy floss and meet up with lots of other families from school. The added bonus was both Kate & Ella were performing their ballet dance from last years concert (Kate has danced at the festival before, but first time for Ella) They loved every second of it especially as so many of their friends were watching!
The baby animals were a huge hit too!
It won't be long before Jonah will be camel riding too!

Happy 22nd Birthday to Amie! (15th February)

It's hard to believe that 22 years has past since Amie was born! Where did the time go? It only seems like yesterday she was born on a hot afternoon on a Monday in February, in Hastings, New Zealand. Now she is a beautiful Mum to Ruby & Jonah. We love you Amie xxx

PS: I just noticed this post is dated Tues 16th Feb. It's actually still Monday 15th in WA (10pm) so it's still Amie's birthday TODAY!

Ella's Birthday Day Out at Adventure World

The entrance to the kids area

We had a family day out today, mainly to celebrate Ella's birthday this year instead of a party. We took them all to Adventure World, which was an adventure as the little ones have never been before. It was a really hot day though (37 deg) so in between riding on the roller coaster, the chair lifts, paddle boats and other rides, the girls were in and out of the pools. We stayed all day until closing, it didn't take too long to get the girls to bed tonight - they were all plumb tuckered out! What a great day!

sweet smiley Jonah

Kate looks over the park from above

Phil & Ella share a ride

One of the water slides they went on

The little girls loved this kids roller coaster and went on it over and over

Ruby on the kids boats

These fish were huge!

Amie & Ruby crash into Phil & Ella
Kate didn't go on these but went on a scarier ride with Amie that I don't have a good photo of

Ruby heads off with Phil's water pistol he won on the clown's mouths

Ooops, she lost the water pistol!

And now it's Ruby's turn to get hit in the face with the water!

Ella loved the little kids slides and pools

Kate in the middle has yet another turn on the roller coaster

Kate & Ruby in the dragons mouth


Kate & Ella peddle madly over the top of the park

The girls loved this simple ride

I love this photo of Ruby & Phil peddling over the top!