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)

Hi Grandpa

Hi Grandpa,

Love Laura

Gotta love

...living near this kind of view.

...a 3-year old who has just learned how to write his name.

...a 7-year old boy resting.

...a 5 and three quarters (as she likes to call herself) girl who brings me drawings every day from school.

... a bird with a view.

... childhood fun.

 ... the 3-year old with the 'real' guitar while the others have to play air. :)

Thank you Daniel

Apparently we've made the house-building process far too complicated. 

Thank you Daniel for simplifying it for us.

 (found this in a notebook of his from months ago, probably when we first started talking about the house plans). 

"How to make a house"

Use a:

chainsaw, bricks (cement), people, nails, hammer, digger, truck, plans, wood, tiles, doors, carpet, curtains, paint, permission, furniture

*Building started this week, well, demolition actually. Exciting! The countdown is on. An un-countable countdown for awhile yet, but still a countdown!

Sweet Nick

I love 3-year olds. Tomorrow is Andrew's birthday and Nick helped me wrap presents. Then we hid them in the spare room.
Nick: "But Mum, if Dad comes in the front door then he will go in the spare room and see the presents."
Mum: "It's okay, I hid them in the cupboard."
N: "Oh, good."
- Then at dinner:
N: "Dad, we wrapped your presents and we hid them in..."
M: "Nick, don't tell him where they are, it's a surprise, remember?"
N: "I won't!" ..."Dad, we hid them in the spare room in the cupboard so don't look in there."

Too much excitement for one 3-year old to keep to himself.
These are the days I will miss when they have passed.

Women

Spending 3 days away with 11,000 women.
Exactly what the doctor ordered.
I'm by myself and yet in the company of many women who are determined to be the change in their world.

Thank you Jesus for refreshing my heart and changing my perspective.

Too much

Building [part of] a house is too much for me. Someone help. Oh that's right, lots of people are helping. Doing loads more work than me actually. Why is this so hard for me? I'm off to bed after hours perusing websites for which dishwasher/oven/stovetop/rangehood, etc, etc. Seriously... why is it that I can live in many different houses over the years, mostly happy with whatever appliances are there, but then choosing our own becomes this pseudo-all-important-yet-actually-quite-important task?? Just have to choose and focus on the big picture. That's my midnight conclusion. Goodnight and good luck to me. Ha.

front of the house

School for 2

2 kids in school every day. Bit strange. They love it, I'm still adjusting. Kinda miss them. Love seeing their smiling faces when they see me after school.

Oh Dad, don't kiss me!!

Nick has exhausted himself every day, 

seemingly quite thrilled to have the house/toys/mum to himself!!! :)

The days before school went back...

We didn't get much done in the weeks before school started. The house has
been a terrible mess, I felt like I was constantly packing and unpacking for
weekend trips to Bruny... but we did have fun amidst the chaos, although
I kind of broke down a few times, feeling overwhelmed by constant
kids/entertaining/cooking/cleaning, but now school is in full swing and
the house is coming back together and really, what did it matter anyway?!!
Of course photos don't show a complete picture of life,
but it's probably a good thing that the camera doesn't come out
to memorialize the times I lost the plot!

---

Homemade cookies and cream ice cream, yum!

 

Little brother just hanging around wherever his big brother is...

The bird thinks she's human and loves to play around the kids.

Hanging with Aunty Sharon

More bike riding at a cool bike park with stop signs and even a traffic light!

Having Opa and Grandmarie over for dinner.

The kids had fun showing their 5 year old books.

Goofing off in the rain at our new house (more about that later, we haven't moved yet)

bruny bruny bruny

Now back to school we go!

Goodbye Summer holidays... :(

Finally he gets to swim

Nick has spent 2 1/2 years watching from the side
as Daniel and Laura have swimming lessons. 

But he's standing a bit taller these days,
seeing as now he's really grown up and all,
getting to go into the pool by himself!!