94 and going strong.

My grandpa just turned 94.
I got him playing on Incredibooth on an iPad.
This is the result.

Happy








Sad







Innocent (who, me?)






Guilty.




Happy Birthday to my cheeky Grandpa!

Family + Tillamook Cheese Factory + Ice Cream = Love

8 year old Footy Freak

There's not much in Daniel's world beyond AFL right now (Australian Rules Football, a far cry from American Football, and with much better looking players I might add!). He's a bit obsessed, and loves a particular player with long shaggy blond hair (thus why there's been no recent haircuts for Daniel!). It's fun to watch, and he loves it. So birthday #8 was about football. And a party in the bush behind our house that Andrew coordinated and ran himself, yay Dad!

Birthday morning

About ready to go bushwalking. They had to search for drinks, hide some flags, match photos to places in the bush, find the birthday cake... basically Andrew wore them out!

racing to win the flag-hunt

Andrew explaining a game

birthday cake in the bush

Happy 8th Birthday Daniel, thank you for eight years of joy watching you grow. I love who you are becoming, footy freak and all!

Roller Towne

Well this place was actually called Woody's Skate and Ride, but for all I knew I was a 10 year old in Roller Towne, back when my dad had the short but awesome stint at managing a roller skating rink in California. 

Okay, not his dream job, but pretty cool for a 10 year old and her friends!

The only difference was the music - 1D replacing Cindi Lauper and Madonna. 

I hear you asking, were you the nerd adult doing the limbo on skates? 

Yes I was. Luckily no pictures...

New house #2

It's pretty ironic that I am enjoying living in a smaller space while watching more space being added onto the house outside. Perhaps I'm only loving it because I know it's only for a little while? Maybe, but I do think I could do it. It's certainly easier to manage. We did joke about stopping work after the concrete slab went down, and then just riding bikes outside on it. Fun, right?!!

So it is really fun watching it get built - in the last 2 days we've been watching rooms take shape with the framing. It's been COLD, and the builders had some mornings where they built a little campfire and burnt some off-cuts (to which I said, no no, please use the stacked wood, i want the offcuts for making things with the kids!!).

Early days

7am concrete truck #1 starts!

7.45am concrete poured.

Framing!

My Work Horse

We've moved and the house is

actually liveable. Thanks to hours

and hours of hard work over the

weekend from a guy who doesn't

do things by halves. I'll hire him

out but he's expensive because

without him I'd be lost.

Lost amongst a lot of boxes. 

6 year old girl

Laura's birthday fell between packing day and moving day. No big deal right? Just insert sleepover in the living room and everyone's happy! 

It seems the roller skates were the hit of the day. 

She only took them off that day when I insisted! 

Little party with friends

Big brother doing the birthday cupcake honours...

Happy birthday sweet girl of mine! 

You bring me so much joy. 

New House

We're now just 1 week from packing up our house and moving into the new place. At least partially moving in... The existing house has a bathroom and ensuite now, all new paint, and eventually carpet. Then there's the extension - that isn't built yet. So we'll move into the rooms of the existing house that are ready, and we'll snuggle up there for a couple cold months with some of our stuff and a makeshift kitchen. I think it'll be fun! Remind me later that I thought it would be fun. Actually no, remind Andrew. :) I am actually looking forward to living there rather than having to go back and forth checking things at the house all the time. 

Here's some random pictures. 

Hard to explain the big picture, but this is our bedroom with a 

chimney removed, then with an ensuite door added.

Hallway with door to bathroom on the right.

Looking in the bathroom door.

Bathroom with bath and walls added.

Ensuite.

Hallway from front door. Goodbye blue flowered wallpaper!

Lounge room. Right wall is shared with the bathroom.

Used to be the kitchen, soon to be a bedroom.

 Back of the house with a bedroom that is
currently looking a bit like a garage. 

Eventually there will be house where the dirt is,
and the room should have 4 walls, all going well...

Back corner of the house again. 

The blue tarp is the outside of the bedroom that used to be the kitchen.

Our bedroom again, wall plastered, and the visible results of a Saturday painting 

sample colours on the wall, thank you kids!

Kid Quotes

D: "For some reason Bruny makes me wake up early. Why is that? Maybe it's because Bruny is awesome!" (the love for bruny is being planted deep in the next generation, yay!)

L: "I feel like a slave" (while washing up dishes)

N: "When Opa died he gave all his work to dad." (simplicity, the gift of childhood)

Our kids may not flick through photo albums of actual printed photos like we did, but they spend hours looking through photos and video clips on the computer. All looking for the same thing of course - pics of themselves!

Photo Albums

I wanna be like dad...

Daniel and Andrew 2004

(Andrew wishes to clarify that what is on the bedside table is not his side of the bed)