Some of my favourite people

 

These lovely ladies are my Mum and her two great friends. We were all together at a wedding last Saturday and the three of them enjoyed catching up - aren't they beautiful! Of course they all talked so much that getting a photo of the three of them where they weren't either talking or laughing was quite a challenge!! See below...

 

 

 

The glowing bride - wasn't she beautiful.
The wedding was at Woodlands at Marburg - a gorgeous location and the weather, although looking ominous in the weather, turned out to be perfect. I love weddings for catching up with people - aside from the delight of watching people joining together in Christ - what a privilege and pleasure to witness.

Things we'll miss

There'll be a few things that we'll miss when we're not living with Greg's parents anymore - here's a few of the random ones that popped into my head today...
- the 6 weekly foot parties that Grandma has (not that we stay for all of them - I hate anyone touching my feet!), the girls love the visitors and are quite taken with Angie and her foot bath and hair cutting prowess
- the impromptu games of soccer with Papa in the backyard
- the excitement of recognising the beep and cheering as Papa drives his VW down the side of the house and into the back shed
- the extra pair of hands on the many nights when Greg works back late
- having a house that's finished and doesn't have holes in the ceiling, entire rooms full of renovating gear and a 2 year plan!!
I think that I'd better stop there, but you get the idea that we're nearly moving and that we've had a good time with Greg's parents too. The girls have really enjoyed getting to know their grandparents better, which is great given we didn't see them for most of last year at all.
I'll let you know when the big move occurs, but it won't be long, so watch this space...

Kitchen, carpet...it's happening

Finally, the promised photos of progress on the kitchen and carpets. Not great ones, but proof at least that they're in and happening. Benchtops come for the kitchen hopefully in the next week or so, and then we can move in. (I can hardly believe it after all this time - over 6 months now!).
There's lots of smaller things still to get done, which Greg is completing bit by bit - what a talented and handy husband I have. And yes, I'm very thankful for him!!
The girls were soooo excited to see the carpet and curtains up in their rooms - they played in there for hours and had their first sleep there during the day last week as well. They can't wait for move in day....neither can we.

My girl

 

Olivia is a real card - so delightfully sweet at some times, and so very strong willed and determined at others - a constant balancing act to parent! Seen here in her latest dress-up creation from the things that we were unpacking in the house - she started the morning in long sleeves and long pants, and by morning tea had found board shorts in Ellen's room, a tulle skirt (from who knows where!) and was carrying about another half dozen items around with her to change into at will. Fortunately she's good at putting things away again later, or I'd forever be packing up after her! She has a real sense of style - don't you think?!?!

Yeah!!!!

We've got carpet - no pictures sorry, but I was so excited that I just had to share. And the kitchen's going in tomorrow (or at least the cabinets are), so it's all happening!!! We still won't be in for a little while yet, but it's finally starting to feel like we'll be moving into our own home soon.

Mothers Day 2008

I love being a Mum - it's not always the easiest job in the world, but it really is rewarding. We had a lovely day yesterday - cooked Grandma breakfast and the girls had their first croissants (Ellen calls them 'swamps') to reasonable reviews. After Church we had a lovely morning tea with Nanna and the rest of my family, and then we all had a huge nap (a favourite part of Sundays!), before heading to our new house to check out the bike paths, walking trails and playgrounds nearby. We are surrounded by a network of them - can't wait to explore when we move in, and they all run along a gorgeous little creek with loads of space for kicking balls etc. It was such a beautiful afternoon - one of those that you want to bottle up and keep forever...

Parks and picnics

Standing in line at the playground - note the new 'hat', the old one was finally too small (and this one is even brighter!!)

Two wise old women - they do have a wonderful time together

Playing soccer with Nanna - she's rather dangerous! Direct hit on Olivia

We love parks - who doesn't, and so head to one whenever we can. Today we headed to Suttons Beach early for a picnic with Nanna before the crowds arrived for the day and had a great time exploring, walking the board walk and playing soccer with Nanna (you have to watch her, she has a lethal boot!). The shot of the girls playing with Nanna shows the ball heading towards Olivia and apparently it hit it straight on the bottom I'm reliably informed - lethal Nanna strikes again! We had boiled eggs, sandwiches and watermelon for lunch (at 10.30am - as you do) and were heading out as the crowds were arriving for the real lunchtime, straight to the Golden Arches for a hot drink for Nanna and Mummy, and a play in the playground for the girls. Nothing too exciting, but gee I'm tired now!

Greg's at work again - public holidays mean nothing in our family. He's overnighting at a friends place up there tonight and working again tomorrow to catch up on all the Monday work that won't get done today, so there will be some excited girls after Kindy tomorrow afternoon when he picks them up!

The good news is that we are getting the carpet laid at the house this Friday, kitchen next week hopefully and then a couple of other things associated with that and we'll be in - it's getting very exciting now!!!! The curtains are up in the girls rooms (thanks Nanna!), some furniture is in the main living areas and steadily we're seeing progress - it's going to be so great to finally move into our home, six months after we bought it...