Saturday, January 28, 2012

Jack's First Day of School

Jack started back at school this week.  The first day actually went better than I expected.  I really thought we were going to have to drag him kicking and screaming after all those holiday but he actually wasn't too bad.  He has since told me however that grade 2 is just as boring as grade 1 and that he thought they were going to learn cool stuff this year.  He looks so cute in his uniform. 


Also I bought Coco her first doggie t-shirt this week.  It was for Australia Day and says Aussie, Aussie Aussie, Woof Woof Woof on it which I thought was adorable.  She didn't get to wear it Australia Day though because I worked and we didn't end up doing anything (I actually had a nanna nap on the lounge after work).


Mum & I had been laughing last week at some of the doggie clothes available on eBay such as this or this but after seeing how cute she looks in her t-shirt she may just end up with a few little outfits.  These denim overalls are adorable and would look great with these little boots and this coat is on my eBay watch list.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Our gorgeous new puppy & a back to school BBQ

I have sort of been looking for a new puppy for a few months now.  Jack was so keen to get another dog but it took me a little while to come to terms with it after losing our beautiful Bella but over the last couple of weeks I've been checking the pet adoption sites.  I contacted Capricorn Animal Rescue, who are a wonderful organization that save and re-home dogs from the pound, and Jack and I went and met a few small dogs but Coco was the one!!  She was so friendly right from the start.  We met her out the front of her foster home and she came and sat on my lap straight away and then went and jumped on Jack too.  We went away to think about it but I knew straight away that she was going to be living with us.

Owen picked her up on Monday and as soon as she came home she has just fit right in.  Our kitty cats have taken a couple of days to get used to having a dog around but it's settled down now.  Isn't she beautiful?


This is her first day home up lying on the lounge with O.


If anyone in the Central Queensland area is looking for a new pet I'd definitely recommend that you have a look at the beautiful animals that are available for adoption from Capricorn Animal Aid.  It's a great cause to support.

Speaking of new to our home we have also got a new lounge suite this month!!  O & I had been tossing up about getting a new lounge before Christmas and had decided against it...and then changed our minds for the hundredth time.  I'm really happy we did though.  The new lounge is a great size for our little house and it has storage in the ottoman and the chaise and a sofa bed under the main section so it added some storage as well.  It's not as snuggly comfy as our old lounge but it's still really nice to sit in and looks nice and fresh and the colour is great for our place.


Jack is heading back to school tomorrow much to his disgust!!  Lol, poor kid.  He says school is "boring" and he misses his Mummy.  I tried to tell him that if it would make it easier for him I could make home ultra-boring so school would seem more fun but he declined.  So to celebrate the last days of holidays we had a BBQ last night with some of his school friends as a last holiday hoorah!

It was a great day for a swim yesterday, nice and hot.


Jack & Mitch having a tussle on O's chill out tube.



A couple of lap races took place.

And then a nice BBQ dinner to follow.


 It's so nice to catch up with friends and it's so hard to find the time with conflicting schedules and work rosters and things but I'm hoping this year to spend some more time with my friends.

Monday, January 09, 2012

Blogging in Twenty-Twelve...

It's been forever since I've blogged.  Halloween way back in October.  How slack have I been!?  Honestly with everyone being on Facebook I've just been uploading photos there but it's not the same.  It's so nice to be able to scroll back through a blog and reminisce.  So this year I'm going to be better and I'm going to take more photos which Jack will hate!!  He is so over having his photo taken by me.


So I'll go back to the beginning of December.  After school finished for the year I had the first two weeks of the holidays off with my beautiful Jack.  We did a few fun things...went to the movies, went to the Rockpool Water Park (which resulted in sunburn for both of us which I felt awful about), went to the beach and went to the Botanical Gardens for Jack's cousin Alyssa's birthday party.  

Jack and Ally on the playground with Patrick.
 And then Christmas!!  This is part of my Department 56 Christmas village.  It makes me :)

The days before Christmas is a flurry of activity.  My Mumma came around to give me a hand with the cooking on the Friday before Christmas and then my Aunt Diane and Uncle Paul dropped around on Saturday.  They got the dirty job of rolling the truffles.  LOL, looks like hard work hey.  This was taken at the end of the rolling too btw not during.

I made a couple of fudges, an Eggnog Fudge and a Salted Caramel Fudge which was to die for, yummo!!  I also made a Cranberry Chilli Chutney.  I don't cook alot of hot foods because I don't like to eat hot foods but after cutting up all the chillies for the chutney I remember the last time I cut up chilli and told myself not to forget to wear gloves, I forgot.  Stirring the fudge for 8 minutes over the heat with chillified fingers is not fun, eating the leftover caramel fudge though made it worth it.

The kids lunching in the theater room on Christmas Day while watching The Santa Clause 3.

And a dip in the pool after lunch...

This is my Mum and my brother Kevin.

My Mum with her brother and sisters and my Grandparents: Fay, Mum, Jaamy, Rob, Diane & Jenny with Grandad and Grandma.

Me and my brother with my Grandparents and my Mum.

Christmas Day was soooo nice this year.  The last couple of years it's been hot and sticky and wet but this year was really pleasant with a nice breeze and nice and sunny.  I normally am up very very late the few nights before Christmas running around like crazy trying to get everything done but this year I was pretty organised.  I was up a bit late the night before Christmas though because I forgot that I had to make the pavlova and didn't remember until about 10.30 Christmas Eve.  You know how it is when something happens like that things always seem to dcmino.  So I remember that I have to make the pav, then I couldn't find any caster sugar so thank goodness for Google, I read that you could blitz normal sugar in a food processor instead.  Being the middle of the night though I didn't want to wake up Jack with the noisy processor so at 11pm I'm on the floor in the bedroom huddled over my food processor blitzing up the sugar.  I take my processed sugar out to the kitchen and then I can't find the cornflour!!  So I'm pulling out half my pantry and what do I find...caster sugar of course but I also found the cornflour.  Pav was done and baked by about 12.30 and I jumped in bed.  I couldn't sleep!!  When I last looked at the clock it was after 2am and then of course my beautiful son who normally sleeps until at least 7 was up at 5.30 in the morning!!  I was fine though after a couple of coffees and the day was great.  I think everyone had a good day.

New Years Eve!!  O and I took Jack to the Carnival near the PCYC.  It's the first year they've had anything like this on in Rocky and it was great to have something fun for the kids to do.  The last couple of years we've just spent it quietly at home so it was nice to have something to do.  They had a few rides including a rock wall and the Hurricane!!  I was very surprised that Jack wanted to go on.  My baby is growing up I guess (sigh).  I'm pretty sure O enjoyed himself as well.

On Boxing Day our friends the William's invited us to this beautiful beach down at Byfield (I'm pretty sure it's called Sandy Point)  Again it was another great day, not too hot with a nice sea breeze.  There were a few bugs around but otherwise it was perfect.

The boys did a spot of fishing.  I threw in a few lines too but there were no fish biting unfortunately or fortunately I guess as O and I are not the best at the whole fish from hook removal business.

Like father, like son.

Don't you love Owen's pink fishing rod (it's mine of course).  Looking good honey ;)  With Owen working so many weekends it's hard to get time together to do fun things like this so it was a fantastic way to start off the New Year (thank goodness for an occasional actual public holiday!!)

Jack and Ollie decided that it would be safer to dig a hole to swim in since we had spotted a couple of jellyfish.  They didn't have much success though but had fun trying.  I even found a couple of sand dollars.  I always look for them whenever I'm at the beach but they're pretty scarce around here.


So that's about the year so far.  Jack is of course on holidays so he has been spending time with a number of my very generous, lovely friends and family which has been great for him to have kids to play with. 

I'm looking forward to the new year and seeing what it brings with it!! 

And lastly a cool photo I took tonight of a cicada shedding it's skin.  It was on the door of the guinea pig hutch when we went to put them to bed.  
Ciao!

Memory Journal

 So I decided to start a memory journal this year inspired by the amazing Heidi Swapp.  She is so talented, I just love her style.  I'm ...