August

28 August 2006

Why can't every day be a Saturday??? I just love the weekends, this weekend Kimberly had her first calesthenics competition at Forest Hill her group managed to get third place which was a terrific effort considering the age group was up to 6. I started getting Kim ready at 8.00 doing her hair and make up and we left the competition at 12.30 so that was our whole morning.

I thought I had put helps of make up on her - considering I didn't even have moisturiser on my face.

But when we got to the venue Cara had to put more make up on...


In the afternoon we went to visit Gong Gong at the shop to wish him a happy birthday. The girls had a great time running up and down the ramps in the arcade and also going for rides in Gong Gongs goods trolley. I think the best part was eating all the prawns that Gong Gong cooked for them and raiding the drinks fridge.

On Sunday we went shopping for Pop's birthday dinner at Box Hill. Katie was asleep in the car so David sat in the car waiting for her to wake up. Kimberly and I had a lovely time buying everything and anythign we wanted, I let her put wahtever she wanted in the shopping trolley and she helped me push it along. I always have trouble pushing the shopping trolley so it was a relief when Kim wanted to do it - and without any help from me. She even helped me take things out of the trolley at the check outs (she was sitting in the trolley). She is such a happy helper.

Sunday arvo after the girls sleep we woke up to find a duck swimming in our pool. Of course we offered our special visitor some bread.We also went for a play at Billy Lids (playcentre), I have bruised knees from crawling in the tunnels but the bruises are a small price to pay for all the laughs I shared with my precious daughters.

Gran and Pop came over for dinner, to celebrate Pop's birthday.

24 August 2006

From the mouths of babe's - I made risotto last night and David mentioned that he really liked it. I told him that all I did was put some meat, vegetables, tinned soup and rice in the rice cooker. To which Kimberly replied "I'm not a big fan of soup" and she's not. She is so grown up, some of her comments really surprise me.

This morning I had forgotten what she said so I asked David, "was it I don't fancy soup". Kimberly sitting in the back of the car replied "not a big fan Mummy". She is so cute. The otehr day I caught her singing along to the radio - she said this song is cool Mummy. I didn't think she would be doing that for a few more years.

22 August 2006

As always everything is a negotiation with Kimberly, I was trying to get her into the bath and asked her what she would like for dessert after her bath. She wanted banana chips. I asked her is that it, anything else?

She had a bit of a think and then asked for bananas and ice cream, Katelyn was already in the bath so we wanted her in there quickly. David told Kim that if she wasn't in the bath by the time he counted to 3 then he would have the ice cream and I could have the banana. Kim asked "and I can have the banana chips?". David said no, you don't get anything because you're not in the bath. To which she replied "I don't see you in the bath!"...

20 August 2006

On Sunday we went to Paul and Kerrie's house for a BBQ/house warming. The weather was perfect and the house was beautiful we had a lovely time - thank you Paul and Kerrie.

Sunday morning I decided to let the girls play with David's shaving cream - this is the result.

I asked Kimberly what she thought her Dad would say when he saw what we had done and she said "My God". When David came down the stairs after his shower his first words where "Oh my God"
On Saturday we went to Mt. Baw Baw, there hasn't been much snow this year which was perfect for us because it meant that it wasn't too cold and less crowds.
Here's Kimberly with a big snow ball ready to throw at Mum.

Katelyn on the toboggan, she took to it straight away and in the end it was hard getting her off for Kim to have a turn. Kimmie wasn't as confident, David went on with her the first time but after that she was fine to go by herself.

Kimberly is such a good girl, we only rented one toboggan as we figured we'd most likely have to be holding the girls, as soon as Kimberly had a turn she would pull the toboggan back for Katelyn's turn.
Our snowman - carrot nose and all.
Kimmie doing jumps in the snow.

Katelyn crawling around having a great time, at first she was walking around but after a few falls she decided it was safety to just "shuffle".

14 August 2006
As the girls get older the weekends are more relaxed but they also seem to go a lot faster. That said we still make sure we have chill out time. Kimmie and David having breakfast in bed, watching Dora or Braney on TV - this is our routine most mornings on the weekend.

Katie singing karaoke on the couch.
On Saturday David and Kimberly went to pick up Kim's new bunk, they bought a picnic lunch with them and stopped to watch airplanes while they ate their lunch. We went and did a big shop in the afternoon, when I say big shop we spent over $250 at the Safeway and the green grocers so on top of this we still need to buy meat. I remember the days when it was just David and I and we would spent around $50 and most of that on biscuits and chocolates.

On Sunday we went out to the "duck park" for a picnic we had a great time the weather was lovely and both girls really enjoy feeding the ducks. In the afternoon we went for a swim at the pools, Katelyn is getting so confident when we dunk her in the water she knows to blow out and close her eyes.

Kimberly running to her sister for a cuddle.

The biscuits are "supposed" to be for the ducks Katelyn.
Kimberly feeding the ducks.

Katelyn loves it when I "toss" her around.
Peek a boo Katelyn.
Kimberly having a rest from all the running around - she slept well that night.


Kimberly shaking the blossom tree to create snow - naugty Mummy gave her the idea.

Kimberly made dinner for us, she made pizzas but she got told off by Mummy because instead of putting the pineapple pieces on the pizzas she wanted to pour them on and was getting pineapple juice on the pizza. Gosh when I get it down in writting it really puts things into perspective, she's only just turned three and she's making us dinner. Mummy needs to chill out, Kim got really upset at me. Even after I apologsied she didn't want to put the pineapple on the pizzas and said "I'm not cooking any more".

When I upset her she really takes it to heart but she when she has an "arguement" or is telling her Dad off but she doesn't seem to get bothered nearly half as much. She was realy pouting last night and I could tell that I had really upset her. I'm usually the one that comes to her defence so she must have felt betrayed. I apologised to her again in the morning and she said "You know Mummy, I still love you".

Katelyn is walking really well on her own although she still crawls when she needs to get anywhere in a hurry. She can say lots of words like; Kim, Mama, Dada, ball, noses, hat, book, map (from watching Dora the Explorer), Becca, nappy, bye, more but her all time favourite word is "that". She loves pointing to things and saying "that" and then expects us to get it for her.

She is a very funny girl, if I say kiss she always blows us a kiss and every morning she will give me a big real kiss and a cuddle. She also loves cuddling Kim's Baby Barbie and Dora doll, she knows that the dolls are special to Kim and that she's not allowed to have them which makes her want them even more. Luck for us all Kimberly is willing to share all her things with Katelyn even her new Dorothy hair clips that she got from Aunty Rhona and Uncle Chris for her birthday. I bought Kimberly a few hoodies the other day and told her that they were from Katelyn so this has helped bring out the generous side of Kimberly.

Katelyn's favourite place apart from being held by Mum or Dad is sitting on the barbie couch in front of the TV.

11 August 2006

Kimberly's third and last birthday party at Kindle. David and I took the afternoon off work, it was nice to spend some time with Kimberly at Kindle.

9 August 2006

Two partys down one more to go, on Saturday we celebrating Kimberly's birthday with my cousins and her friends at Rare Bears. The party was stress free, the service at Rare Bears was very good and to my surprise so was the food, both in terms of quality and quanity.

I think the highlight of the party was having Melanie attend the party, Meanie is Kimberly's best friend from Kindle last year. Melanie no longer goes to Kindle so Kimberly hadn't seen her for over 8 months. I wasn't sure what her reaction would be but the two of them obviously have a special bond as they played very well together.

Kimberly got a lot of presents, I'm not sure about Kimberly but I feel over whelmed by all the new toys she was given. After our big day on Saturday we had a quiet day on Sunday, the morning was spent opening presents (Kim still has more presents that she has yet to open) and in the afternoon David took both girls to the park.

Even the grown ups had fun.
Kimberly opening Melanie's present a Barbie Fairytopia toy.
Melanie having a look at her goodie's bag.
Opening presents on Sunday morning.
Katelyn and Kimberly with her new Dora doll sitting in front of the TV watching a Dora DVD.

After our big day on Saturday we had a quiet day on Sunday, the morning was spent opening presents (Kim still has more presents that she yet to open) and in the afternoon David took both girls to the park. Last night both David and I came home from work early, I took Kim to calesthenics I hadn't been for a while so it was nice tos ee the girls new routines.

We also had Gran and Pop over for dinner, nothing special just meatloaf with vegetables and another Barbie cake (just a small one).

In the afternoon we played dress ups, Kimberly was Supergirl and she chased Mummy Monster around the house. But then Mummy Monster turned around and growled at her! Kimberly ran straight to David and said "the Monster is going to eat me, and I'm only pretending to be Supergirl - not real". Her imagination is really vivid I think she really did forget that I was her mum and thought that the monster was after her. Nasty Mum.

4 August 2006

Only one more sleep till Kimberly's party I don't know who is more excited Kim or I? All the guests have RSVP, David has called Rare Bears to confirm numbers and order the adult platters, the party bags are all done, I have made some place mats with "Happy Birthday Kimberly" and if I have time I will make some ribbon hair clips and hair bands to go into the party bags (for the girls).

1 August 2006

The saga that is my eldest daughter's birthday. Not only have did I spend a lot of my Sunday sewing bags for Kimberly's party favours. I have for the past two days been walking all around town trying to find the perfect items to fill them with. I was unsuccessful yesterday and only managed to buy some bath toys for Katelyn, but today I pick up some textas - thanks for the suggestion Coryn.

Every year it seems to be the same, last year I was in a panic looking for Wiggles party items and bought so many that I have enough left to host another Wiggles party. I also made party bags for every child at Kindle and filled the bags with home made playdough, cutters, lollies and I can't remember what. Each year for Kimberly's birthday David and I have made her a cake, but my precious little Katelyn, even though she had three cakes this year none of them were home made.

This year for Kimberly's birthday party we are going to Rare Bears (so no need to do much on that front) and as well as my cousins (aged around 6 and 7) she has invited three little friends. I have made library bags for each of them pictures can be found in the sewing blog.

I am also considering buying colour in books to go with the textas but I'm not sure if they would be suitable for 6 and 7 year olds. Crazy thing is I really enjoy doing all of it, coming up with ideas, running around getting everything and then the chaos on the actual day of the party. If I get my way I would like to always make a big fuss of my daughters birthdays (for as long as they will let me) as they seem to come around quickly but don't last very long, already my big girl is turning three.

July

31 July 2006

Last day of Katelyn's birthday month and only one more day till it's Kimberly's birthday month. We had a very nice weekend, the weather is starting to get a little bit warmer and the days are quite sunny even though the wind is still cold, we managed to go on few outings.

On Saturday we took the girls for a picnic in the park, we wanted to feed the ducks but we left our bread at home. This is a really lovely park that we went to for the first time, it's in Glen Iris just one suburb away so we will be visiting this park more often.

Come on ducks, follow me!

Kimberly is getting very confident with climbing.


Katelyn having lunch and watching her sister play.
Two of the three people that I love most in the whole world.

In the afternoon we met up with Uncle Rob, Shirley and Chris at Albert Park for a play. After playing in the park we all went out for dinner together in Richmond. It's really nice now that Katelyn is old enough to eat whatever we're eating, she happily munched on spring rolls and we all enjoyed ourselves.

It's so nice to have a friend to share with.

On Sunday morning we went to the Camberwell market, even though we've been living in Camberwell for 4 years this is the first time we went to the market. Usually we avoid it like the plague because it's hard to find a carpark and crowded. But we got there early and all had a good time. We bought a toy guitar for Kimberly, we had lots of comments while walking through the crowd. I got to look at bits and pieces but didn't buy anything for myself. I always admire other people's vintage finds but for some reason when I look at second hand things, I just can't get past the fact that it's someone elses old stuff.

Kim and David having a look at some seeds.
Me and my girls (I am constantly holding Katelyn so my arms are a bit sore today).
Kim with the guitar, dancing as she walks and plays.

Katelyn is become a bit of a monster, she wants to get into everything. Here are some photos of her trying to climb into the bath.

Yeah, I got it.
No, give it back.
Tantrum Pick me up Mummy, Daddy was mean to me.
Katelyn trying to open the window.
David took the girls outside for a play in the afternoon so I could sew some bags to hold Kimberly's party favours. They took Kimberly's big red car.
My gorgeous girl coming home with some flowers for mum.
Katelyn enjoyed riding in the car more than Kim did.

24 July 2006

We had a really nice weekend, on Saturday we went shopping for some gumboots for Kimberly the ones that I order from the Internet were too big, I bought size 29 (equates to size 11) instead of size 9. Just as well because when Kim went to try them on she fits a size 8.5.

After we finished shopping we went to McDonald's for lunch, I wanted an ElMaco. Kimberly calls it Old MacDonald, now I know why Maccas has been around for so long it really is a nice place for the family. The girls enjoyed their Happy Meals (even Katelyn) and had a play after their lunch - a stress free lunch and we all had fun.

Kimberly putting her new gumboots on.

Having fun at McDonalds.






After the girls sleep we did our grocery shopping and then went to the pool for a swim. Both David and I are very surprised by how good Katie was in the pool. She's only had two swimming lessons but she can now blow bubbles in the water and jumps into the pool on the count fo three when we sit her on the side of the pool.

Kim and I made pizza dough before their sleep and we had pizza for dinner. Kimberly and David rolled the pizza dough out and Kimberly put the toppings on.

On Sunday we went to visit Nana, Kimberly was a bit unsure of the nursing home and wanted to stay close to David but Katie wasn't phased. I think it helped that Gran and Pop were there too. Kim and I made a cake to take with us and we were all very pleased to see that Nana is doing very well.

I included this photo of Kimberly cracking herself up, she talks so fast that sometimes she gets her words mixed up. She's laughing because she called me Dammy (Daddy and Mummy - mixed up).
17 July 2006

We had a really nice weekend, on Saturday we went to Ashburton in the morning. Mt. Buller were doing a promotion and dumped a whole lot of snow in one of the street for the kids to play in so we thought it would be a good chance for Kim to have a play in the snow without driving too far.

We all had a great time so will be planning a trip to the snow as soon as I buy everyone snow suits and thermal underwear.

Saturday afternoon Uncle Rob came to take Kim for a play at Rare Bears with Crsytal. They didn't get back until 7.30 so by this time David and I were camped in the front room looking out the window. They all stayed for dinner and Kimberly went to sleep on her own without us sitting at the door. This is a major break through for us as we often spend over an hour each night sitting outside Kim's door waiting for her to fall asleep.

Sunday morning the girls were both very good so I got a chance to do some sewing. We went to Tai Mah's after the afternoon sleep to celebrate Katelyn's birthday (again). Little Aunty bought Katie a Pooh Bear cake and Katie stuck her hand in it before anyone could stop her. She was very clingy to me so I had to hold her the whole time we were there, my arms are really sore today.

Kimberly and I made chicken nuggets in the morning during Katelyn's nap, I was surprised at how capable she was. I was going to get Kim to help me with the crumbing but she was able everything on her own. She dipped the spoons in water, spooned the chicken mixture into the bread crumbs, roll the mixture in the crumbs (very lightly) and patted the mixture into shape.

I ended up just standing back and watching her, I taped her making the nuggets so that I can look back in a few years when she refuses to help me in the kitchen.
Katelyn's is so adventurous (read mischievous) she is into everything and has no fear. She loves climbing on the chairs we bought her for her birthday. At first she would sit on them but now she climbs up and stands. We have to keep an eye on her all the time because she loves to climbed everything.






12 July 2006

It's my precious baby's birthday today. Oh how quickly she is growing up, too quickly. She is such a perfect little baby and I could not dream of a more perfect child (along with Kimberly of course). I love so many things about Katelyn I don't think I'm able to list them all;

• I love the way she loves "us" especially her big sister,
• her smiles,
• her cheeky grins,
• her little hands and feet and she she can grab even the smallest items,
• the way she sticks her tongue out when she is concentrating,
• her cuddles,
• the jokes we share,
• our special feeding times and giggling when she feeds,
• the way she tries to copy everything Kimberly does,
• the laughter I hear when both girls are in the bath together,
• her determination when she wants something,
• but most of all I love the way she had added to our family.

We haven't given Katelyn her birthday presents yet, we put together the chairs (for her table and chair set on the weekend but we didn't manage to get the table done yet). Kimbelry helped me wrap the other presents; some puzzles and a Fisher Price farm toy. We're going to give these to her tonight and Gran & Pop are also coming for dinner - which will make the girls very happy.
Saturday morning Kimberly and David went to pick up our new washing machine, our old one is still working but sometimes it gets "stuck" so we got a new one. Saturday afternoon we went to Kimberly's friend Charles' 3rd birthday party, we all went and had a terrific time.

Sunday was quiet, we spent the morning wrapping Katelyn's presents and the afternoon doing grocery shopping.

My girls were the only two left at the table, all the other children were more interested in playing but not my girls - they were focused on the food! 5 July 2006

Donna and her family are in Melbourne for the week so they came over today to celebrate Katelyn's birthday. Katelyn was really spoilt she got a wheels on the bus toy, a twinkle twinkle little start book that really does twinkle, Pingu and Pingu DVD and I forget what else. Donna also got a Hungry Caterpillar book for Kim, but good old Kim went straight to her room to get her Hungry Caterpillar book that she already had! But the one Donna got her was different it was a colour in one.

We had pizza and cake (mud cake and ice cream cake) Gran bought over a little chicken figurine made of marzipan to put on top of the cake. All the kids except Katelyn were more interested in playing than in eating. Kimberly had a really nice time and she keeps asking why the boys can't come over more often. We tell her they they live far away and that next time we will go to their house, but it's a long way away so she has to be good.

3 July 2006

The start of Katelyn's birthday month. My baby is going to be one, already. I am starting to notice that I love my two girls (equally but) in very different ways, with my big girl - Kimberly all the experiences are new, parenting Kimberly means doing and seeing things with fresh eyes. But with my baby - Katelyn I am experiencing most things the second time around and to a certain extent I am cherishing all the moments even more because I know how quickly she will grow and how fleeting these moments are.

I am not in as much of a rush to; see her sitting up on her own, crawling, walking, talking... I know these things will all happening soon enough and especialy since we don't plan on having more children this will be my last chance!

Both the girls have a cold so we had a very quiet weekend, on Saturday Kim and David did the grocery shopping and took Jacky to the groomers and they had a play at Old McDonald (this is what Kimberly calls McDonalds). On Sunday we went out for lunch just the four of us but we weren't gone for long. we were going to visiting Tai Mah but when we called her to say that we were coming she told us that she was going yum cha with her friends. The weather has been very cold and wet lately so it's hard to take the girls anywhere.

I think Katelyn has mroe teeth coming, she has been drawling like crazy. I find myself changing her top at least four times a day.

My two girls playing together, watching the two of them makes me wish I had a sister, even if it is only for a fraction of a second.

Katie can now stand up by herself and her little fingers and hands are very clever she can turns pages of books, she can climb in and out of bed and loves climbing up the stairs.

Both girls "fixing" daddy's hair.
Kimberly showing Katie how to comb her hair.

Katie combing her hair.

Deciding whether or not she should but a pink clip into her lovely combed hair - what you can't tell it's been combed!Katie's favourite play area - the pantry!
Katie's second favourite play area the hallway lights, she's standing up trying to reach.