Book Week Character

The gorgeous
Pippi Longstocking
and
Little Red Riding Hood

Sunday Sunshine

We got out to the park this afternoon to soak up some of the gorgeous sunshine!

Children's Book Week

We were invited to attend a Children's Book Week presentation today after Kate's entry was chosen to receive a prize. They had to draw a picture with their interpretation of this years book week theme - Across the story bridge! 472 children entered from all the primary schools in the Kalamunda Shire. Only 21 received a prize ( 3 prizes in each grade 1-7) Kate received an Honoury Mention (3rd place) for Grade 4's, we were so proud of her! She received a certificate (photo taken with the Mayor of the Kalamunda Shire) some coloured pencils and a bookmark!

Well done Kate!!!

House Improvements

new pansies growing in a basket on the wall

by the front door, yay spring is coming!


A few months ago we had some roller shutters installed on the bedroom windows and the front of the lounge window. Not only is it great for the light control and keeping the warmth in, I have noticed it has cut down the amount of outside noise at night (traffic and noisy parties a few houses away) not to mention they are great for security.
I'm actually not dreading summer as much as I usually do, I know the shutters will help keep all that bright sunshine out.
I love them!

Ella's window by the front door
she moved from the spare room at the front of the house
to the smallest room in the house
and it works perfectly for her
she loves everything neat and tidy
and it's so easy to do in a small room

front of the house
need a new letterbox soon
this one is being held up by a pile of bricks :)

the view from the front
our bedroom is on the right
spare room on the left
we still have the gardens to do!

Kate's bedroom which opens onto the back yard,
this is actually the master bedroom but I chose one of the front bedrooms
as I like our bedroom to look out onto the street!

Still Sick

This poor little sick girl with the spots (or stripes as the case may be!) now also has a really bad dose of tonsilitis! Two weeks of AB's, so hopefully she'll be on the mend soon and back to school next week. School photos plus book week are next week, so fingers crossed. I took this photo a few minutes ago playing with her Barbie dolls and campervan. She has been playing with it since 9am this morning, it's now 4pm and she's still playing with it. She has been a brilliant patient despite 2 nights where she didn't fall asleep until 4am and 2:30am respectively!

Reading

We have been reading Hungry Planet : What the World Eats which we borrowed from the library, but I have ordered it as I think it will be a valuable book to have on the book shelf for learning about what food families from the World eat and how little some families spend and how much we in Australia spend!

The kids have been pouring of the beautiful colour photos and reading about all the families from around the World. They have read it over and over from cover to cover fascinated.

It is really disgusting to see how much processed food and drink people consume. I was really taken by a family of 12 from Bhutan that spends $5 a week on food. They grow their own rice and hot peppers that they eat with every meal. They eat 70 pounds of rice a week! They buy a few other vegetables to eat with it and a few times a year someone in the village will kill an animal and share it with all the families.

I’m not saying they have the healthiest diet in the world but it is simple and they are grateful for it. If most people throughout history have lived on very simple diets then why do we need gourmet? It’s like toys. The more you have and the fancier they are the less children will play with them. Millions of people in the world eat rice for every meal, or some other such staple.

Sickness

My poor wee girl has the chicken pox. She has been immunised but it's obviously done nothing. She hasn't got a mild dose either but she has it bad. A million and one spots and more popping up all the time. They are in her mouth, on her eyelids and her private bits. She's done nothing for 3 days but sleep and soak in a bath with Pinetarsol. She's been vomiting with it too. She started some french knitting tonight which I bought her today to keep her busy. We have some library books and dvd's to get through the next week or so as well. Her class has been really affected. 14 kids down so far with it. Ruby has it as well (she has also been vaccinated) but only has a mild dose (8 spots) Kate hasn't been immunised as it wasn't available to her at 18mths. We shall see if she gets it.

What we have been upto!

Sorry it's been awhile since I've updated this blog. It's been busy around here! The weather has been gorgeous (too nice, we need rain!) so we have been spending alot of time in the garden. We have been weeding, fertilising, painting fences and been to the nursery. We got a lemon tree and a nectarine/peach tree. We will grow the lemon tree in a pot for now, until the patio is finished. We also dismantled the swing set and took it up to Amie's house for Ruby & Jonah. So that has freed up alot of space in the back yard.


The girls sat their dancing exams last week and all did very well. We won't know the actual results for a while, except Kate got all her theory right in her tap.

New Zealand July 2010

the flight over from Perth to Auckland


We had a lovely time back home despite it being the middle of winter!
Our motel had central heating so we were nice & cosy at night. The days were a bit cool but not too bad. Some rainy days but we managed to find things to amuse ourselves.

The girls travelled well, sleeping quite a bit on the way over. Coming home Ella slept half the way after exhausting herself crying because she didn't want to leave. Kate on the other hand was packed & ready to go 3 days before hand. Funny kids!

We went over for my parents Golden Wedding Anniversary celebration which was a lovely lunch with family & close friends. The sun came out after a few days of rain, which was lovely!

We had a spa at the motel which the girls enjoyed most nights when we were back in time before it closed, it was more like a sauna though!

enjoying a spa

at the museum doing an activity sheet

Perfume Point rock pools

We drove a long way to the place with the longest name in the World!

playing in the park, Dannevirke

Kate chose rock climbing, which they both loved

Ella chose the Aquarium

Danielle with the girls in Auckland airport (she met us there after our flight from Napier) before we departed for Perth!

Three ballerinas ready
for their mid-year concert!

Ella with her new winter coat, ready to face the cold in New Zealand next week!
This was a bargain I found today $36 down to $18! Can't get much better than that!

Kate on her way to tap dancing with her new ipod she got for her birthday!
Should keep her entertained on the plane!

Happy 9th Birthday Kate!!!

Today our lovely Kate is nine! She has been so excited the last few weeks planning a disco party for tonight! As a bonus, she had a sleepover at school last night, so woke at school on her birthday surrounded by her friends. That's the best apparently.