My Beautiful Grandma

Today we farwelled our beautiful Grandma.  She had been in hospital for the last couple of weeks and passed away surrounded by her family on Friday.  I feel so blessed to have been Granddaughter to such a kind, gentle and generous woman and to have learnt so much from both her and my Grandad about so many things but particularly about love.  They were so in love.

They had met on a blind date set up by Grandma's best friend Mimi who was dating Grandad's brother Brian.  Brian and Mimi were married as well and sadly were only parted when Mimi passed away last year.

This is one of my all time favorite photos of Grandma and Grandad.  They say a picture says a thousand words, this one says love, love, love...

My Mum, brother and I lived next door to my Grandparents until I was 11 so I spent a lot of time with my them.  We used to have dinner with them quite regularly and actually we probably had breakfast there just about every morning because Grandma always cooked bacon.  Even when we moved out to the farm I used to leave my bike at my Grandparents house so I still saw them nearly every day.  I can always remember sitting at their table in the afternoon and when Grandad would call out as he walked down the driveway, "Loverboy's Home" and Grandma would giggle every time.  It was beautiful.  

I have so many beautiful memories of growing up and my favorites are all about family.  My Grandparents have a beach house at Cooee Bay where all the families would spend every school holiday...lots and lots and lots of us.  Our days were always the same, get up for breakfast, down to the beach for a swim, hanging out at the house, lunch, the little ones would nap and the older ones would read then back to the beach for another swim, dinner and dishes and then bed.  We would all gather around the littlest ones beds and Grandma would tell us all stories before bed.  My cousins and I all have the best memories of those story times.

As I said before I have been truly blessed to have had such a fantastic Grandma

Our weekend...

I have had a really nice weekend and I'm sure Jack has enjoyed himself as well.  On Saturday morning I had morning tea with my friends Charlene and Ann.  Ann has just moved back to town and bought a fantastic house so we got the grand tour and then kicked back for a catch up chat and coffee.  I love those girls.

On our way home we swung by and picked up Jack's mate Mitchell for a sleepover.  They had a great weekend playing the Wii and swimming.  It's so nice him having mates over.  I feel for him as an only child, I know he feels lonely some times so as I said it's great for him to have time with his friends.

The boys and Coco tried out the new sofa bed. 

This morning we had a lovely morning swim.  The water is so nice in the morning with the sun sparkling off it.  The boys had a fighting monsters game going on and were flipping and swimming all over the place, me well I sat back and had a lovely spa to start off the day.  Ahhhhhhh.  Here's some of their cool dives.

I also gave the gorgeous Coco and shampoo and blow wave.  

This afternoon as Mitchell was leaving Jack's other mate, Jared came over for a play and then later this afternoon my Mum and my friend Kim came over so I have had a great time catching up with lots of people this weekend.  My Grandma Jean has been in hospital since Thursday but she's getting a little better every day too which is great.  She's a beautiful lady.
Hope everyone has a great weekend too.  Ciao

Our first 4WD adventure...

My friend Tricia phoned the other day to invite Jack to go 4WD'ing with her hubby Jason and son Oliver and their friend Mitchell.  Her husband obviously heard my overprotective hesitation in their side of the phone call and offered to let me tag along...as long as I didn't talk hahahahaha.  Now I'm not really one for the wild wilderness (especially no toilets) but I hate the thought of my precious boy missing out on anything fun so we jumped at the chance.

Before we even got a block from their house I was told by the boys that the prediction was that I would scream and then cry like a girl (which was right about where my mindset was as well).  Well...it was fun and I didn't cry or scream.

Before we hit the sandy part of the track we had to stop to let some air out of the tires.  The boys each had a go at letting some air out and then we got ready to head off on the sandy track.  Obviously the boys were very excited.

We headed down to 9 Mile Beach which is a beautiful piece of the world.  Beautiful beach for miles and sand dunes for the kids to climb.

And climb they did...

There's a stream that comes from somewhere and winds it's way through the dunes down onto the beach.  The water was lovely and cool, just great for splashing about.

The dunes are so interesting.  Check out the cool sediment lines along the edge of the dunes.  

And then back to more climbing and boy games on the dunes.

And then a strip down for a rinse off before jumping back in the 4WD for the drive home.

This is the beach we visited...

...and the beautiful view of Five Rocks in the background with the boys rocking the world in the foreground.  It was a fantastic day and obviously they had a blast. 

Thanks Jason.

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.

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.

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!

Boo...Halloween is coming

 So of course I've been doing a bit of Halloween decorating. At the front door we have a "Witches Parking" area with an umbrella witchy hanging from the roof.

I made a very eclectic wreath for the front door.

 And an arachnophobes nightmare of a front door. I've also lost my Halloween doorbell from last year, it's disappeared into the abyss of the spare room I think.

Jack insisted on having the eyeballs back out the front in the birds nest.  It's funny how kids like to have things exactly how they were previously.  Jack takes a bit of convincing sometimes if I want to change something around.

How Vampire Diary is this, Candy Blood!!  Gross and cool at the same time.  I bet it is disgustingly sweet.  I know it's a bit gross especially for kids but I couldn't resist.

Inside the front entry, the treat laden entry table with bloody hands and spidery mirror.

 Jack painting the eggs for the Halloween party invites...

The finished invitation...

And swim season has started.  Some days it's still a bit chilly but Jack's been in a few times and I've even been in once.