Day 181 - Afternoon Tea

The social club at work organised a lovely afternoon tea at Benedict House in Queanbeyan. It is home to many gorgeous beads and other cute knick knacks to purchase. It was just lovely to sit drinking tea and eating some delicious baked goodies after a long day at the athletics carnival. Thanks to Sue and Carlyn for organising such a relaxing afternoon.

Day 180 - Sick, Sick, Sick

We had a dreadful night of sleep last night... well really a lack of sleep. Ava was extremely upset and inconsolable all night last night, every hour on the hour. Not sure how much sleep either of us got last night but it meant a day at home, yet another trip to the doctors, her 9th ear infection, another round of antibiotics and now a referral for an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist. The end has got to be near.

We are in need of a good night sleep and some healthy children I think. Here is to a good night tonight after a well deserved nap today.

Day 179 - Black and White

There is something about black and white photos that I just absolutely love. I captured this while enjoying some sunlight on the deck with the girls this afternoon. They were for once laying together happily. We have to make the most of these precious moments.

Day 178 - An overdue service

I took my sewing machine in for an overdue service. Considering I have had it for nearly 4 or 5 years and I haven't had it serviced yet, it is a very overdue service.

My sewing projects are creating a rather large pile in my bedroom. I need to find more time in the day to do some sewing.

Day 177 - Noodles

Food is such a fun experience in our house. With all the different tastes, textures and smells the girls always seem to have so much fun with it.

Tonight I gave the girls noodles that I hadn't cut into smaller pieces for them. It was very interesting watching Olivia and Ava eating them. Ava used the twirling around the fork method, where Olivia as you can see opted for the putting them in her mouth and hoping for the best or shoving them in with her hand.

Far too much foodie fun in our house.

Day 176 - Twins of Australia

We organised a photo shoot with Helga Dalla who is a photographer from the Sunshine Coast who has started a series of books about twins called Twins of Australia (see the Twins of Australia website here).

We have a little questionnaire to fill out and it is proving to be quite difficult to put my thoughts into words. These will be published words after all.

If you are interested in taking part, just go to the website and register your interest. I thoroughly enjoyed our photo shoot with Helga. It could be something we consider again.

Day 175 - Early to Rise

I was definitely a great sister this morning. I got up early to drop Jenny off at the airport for her weekend away in sunny Brisbane. It was a cold and frosty morning this morning and I am extremely jealous of her trip to the warmth.

Day 174 - Late nights

There have been far too many late nights of late.

Bring on Summer and some vitamin D to shoo these germs away.

Day 173 - Practice makes Perfect

2011 is the Year of the Doctor in our house. We seem to spend at least one day a week visiting our wonderful doctor. You know you visit the Doctor too much when you ask the girls what you do when you go to the doctor and they open their mouth and say "Aaahhhh..."

Pity when we go to the doctor Ava usually screams blue murder when we try to look in her mouth. Oh well as they say practice makes perfect.

Day 172 - A rare moment

It is not often the girls are happy to cuddle each other at the same time. Today I caught them in one of these rare moments and I was so happy to capture it with both of them with a smile on their face.

I hope to see these moments occur a little more frequently.

Day 171 - Blissful quiet time.

There is no better place to go to relax without the girls than at the hairdresser. I went to visit my wonderful hairdresser Vanessa today. Usually while I am there I flick through all the gossip magazines and have a chat to Vanessa. Instead I packed my Kindle to catch a quiet moment for reading. I haven't had a lot of time to do that lately, so it was nice to be pampered while I read.

Now my challenge is to get the girls used to this quiet relaxation while at Vanessa's.

Day 170 - Sunday Roast

We ended a rather quiet weekend perfectly with a beautiful roast pork for dinner which was cooked by Shane and Mum. It was absolutely delicious. Even the girls ate most of theirs, broccoli first! I am going to have to make sure I put it on the menu more often.

My only request is for Mum's homemade gravy next time. It just tops the meal off completely.

Day 169 - Nothing is going to stop me.

I woke up this morning rather rusty. I knew eventually after working all week, having restless nights and being surrounded with such germs that I would succumb to the sore throat and runny nose I had all week. With a squeaky voice, runny nose and a not so pleasant cough as well as both the girls with conjunctivitis, sadly I had to cancel our plans to attend Jules and David's birthday party.

I was not however going to let it stop me from our double date planned with Mel and Simon. Dinner and the movies. We have had this planned for a little while and it was rather nice to go out without having to worry about what the girls were up to.

We could not think of a time when Shane and I had gone out without the girls and together! It was very relaxing to sit and chat over dinner and to follow that with a movie was almost bliss. Luckily we didn't fall asleep in the cinema, I was closely monitoring Shane though.

It is something we are going to have to schedule in more often.

Day 168 - What a trio

After yet another very long night with Olivia, we took her to the doctors today and boy no wonder she is feeling miserable. With an ear infection, throat infection and conjunctivitis who would be happy? Hopefully with eye drops, wipes and antibiotics she will be on the mend very quickly.

Time for bed in preparation of a night of restlessness. It has to end soon doesn't it?

Day 167 - A reassuring phone call.

There is nothing worse than a sick baby. Especially when they can't tell you what is wrong with them, where it hurts or when they only sleep for 20 minutes at daycare. What a pip!

Olivia coughed for nearly 2 hours straight tonight from 7:30pm - 9:30pm and boy did I feel helpless. I got so worried about her I called the local hospital who in turn gave me the health direct phone number. Registered nurses monitor and log the calls made to them and gives you advice on what they think maybe wrong and if you need/should go to the hospital. Luckily for us she told us just to take her to the dr tomorrow.

So after 3 nights sharing the bed with my darling daughter, we had a night of minimal coughing thanks to an old wives tale and and onion, but still a very restless night. I had forgotten that we could function on such minimal sleep. It is like having a newborn again. I am not enjoying this at all.

Bring on some healthy vibes.

Day 166 - I got her!

Tonight while getting the girls ready to have a shower, Shane asked Ava to go and get Olivia for him. Well she took this to the extreme of wrestling and cuddling her. Which is why the image isn't of the best quality today but certainly one of our most memorable moments.

Ava came running out of the bathroom shouting '- iiia', caught sight of Olivia and launched herself at the poor unsuspecting Olivia in a massive bear hug. Followed by Ava shouting very proudly "I got her!" The girls ended up wrestling on the floor for a few minutes in fits of giggles and random "I got her!" comments from both Ava and Olivia. They did eventually get into the shower, quite happily.

It is moments like these that erase all the tantrums, fights, hair pulling that happened during the day and lack of sleep from the night before and your heart melts.

Day 165 - A warm cup of tea...

After a busy and long day at work, a warm cup of tea seems to make everything better.

I had to go to the Canberra and Region Multiple Birth Association meeting tonight. For the first time I was rather reluctant being a little under the weather and extremely tired and there aren't any options for making tea or coffee at our meeting venue, so I packed up my thermos with my tea and soldiered along to the meeting.

It went down extremely well with my piece of chocolate I packed just to get me through until bedtime. By the photo of the day you'll notice I wasn't the only one who had this thought.

Day 164 - Tea Pot

I absolutely love watching the girls sing and dance. They have definitely got a very big love of music and singing. They are now requesting songs for us to sing and doing the actions along with the songs we sing. Ava is our little singer, we often hear her singing to herself through the monitor which is very cute albeit often before daylight.

Today I caught Ava singing along with I'm a Little Tea Pot. She has her handles and spout at the ready. I can't wait to see what actions she does next.

Day 163 - Another Busy Sunday...

We were up and ready for yet another busy Sunday. I am so glad this is a long weekend, we get an extra day to get over these busy 2 days.

We started the day celebrating Kyler's 2nd birthday at the Fun Factory. The kids had a lovely time running around, wearing themselves out and we had a lovely time chatting and catching up. What a clever lady Victoria is who made this delicious looking cake, the big one was the adults Donna Hay cake. It tasted as good as it looked! From there we went home to get ready for our Babies in Beanies photo shoot at Snowgum studios. The girls were a little tired and certainly not the best photographic subjects. Not sure if we actually got a photo of them together, but we shall see how Leonie weaves her magic. I am sure there will be some gorgeous photos of the girls.

We finished the day a little more boring with the girls having a huge sleep and Shane and I ducking out to do the groceries. Oh well. Another busy Sunday gone again. Bring on rest day Monday.

Day 162 - Handmade Markets

After celebrating Kaitlyn's birthday in the park this morning, I took a little time out while the girls were having a sleep to visit the Handmade Markets with my cousin Jodi. I haven't been to one yet this year and I have to say I much prefer it at the Convention centre, more room to move, not as hot (or wet!) and still lots of pretty things to look at.

There are some wonderfully creative people out there. If I had an endless supply of money I would have come home with a little more than I did. I did partake in purchasing some more beautiful Summerblossom Accessories for myself and a couple for the girls. Rochelle makes some beautiful hair accessories. If only I knew about her for my wedding (only a few years too late!)

I have put a link to both the Handmade Markets and Summerblossom websites for you to look at if you think you might be interested.

The next markets will be held before Christmas and you can buy Summerblossom all year round from their website.

Day 161 - A quick and easy favourite

After daycare, dinners need to be fast, quick and easy!

One of our favourite quick and easy meals are Nachos. The girls absolutely love them, so much so they clean nearly two bowls full (well I guess they are usually half filled bowls but still...) So I thought I'd share my quick and easy recipe.

Quick and Easy Nachos

1 onion

500g minced meat

1 packet taco seasoning

400g tinned tomatoes

1 tin (medium size) baked beans - drained of the juices

2-3 Tablespoons of Salsa

splash of water 

Plain corn chips

Salsa

Grated cheese

1. Cook the onions and minced meat until brown.

2. Add the taco seasoning, tomatoes, baked beans, 2 T of salsa and water to the pan and cook for 5 - 10 minutes.

3. Line the outside of an oven proof dish with corn chips. Put the mince mixture in the middle of the corn chips. Cover with Salsa and grated cheese. 

3. Cook for 10 minutes on 180 degrees or until cheese has melted.

Sometimes I put some extra corn chips on a baking tray and cover them with cheese and cook in the oven for 5 minutes so we have some really crispy corn chips.

If you decide to make these, I hope you enjoy them as much as Olivia and Ava do.

Day 160 - A cup of tea and a Tim Tam.

There is nothing better after a really, REALLY hard day at work than a cup of tea and a Tim Tam after dinner. I am currently favouring the Dark Chocolate Mint Tim Tam. They work a treat to make one feel a little better about the day being finished. Bring on a new day tomorrow.

Day 159 - Kindergarten

Well I survived my first day of Kindergarten teaching today.

You often take for granted as a teacher of older children the things that they can do and do independently. Overall, I had a wonderful day. I am sure you'll forgive me for a short post tonight, but I am exhausted, thanks jointly to the girls and kindergarten.

Day 158 - A parcel awaiting my arrival home

There is nothing better than coming home after work and finding a little care package, even if the care package is for the girls not me!

The lovely Morrison family all the way over in Kiwi Land sent the girls a little parcel for their birthday. It contained some wonderful home baked goodies. I miss Taryn's baking almost as much as I've been missing her! The girls are going to love their unicorn cookies when they get them tomorrow to eat.

I cannot believe Grace is turning 5 today and it was so exciting to see her write in the card and on the front of the card. Happy Birthday Gracie girl!

Thanks gorgeous Morrison family for this delicious package of goodies.

Day 157 - A day to relax

After a busy weekend and an even busier week and weekend to come I decided it was to be a slipper day. Relax at home, well as much relaxing as one can do with the girls, but relax nonetheless. I would have even worn my slippers to Mel's house for coffee this afternoon if I could have. It was a pity I had to stop at the Post Office on the way.

It is going to be a week of early nights and early mornings followed by a weekend of parties. We have one booked in for Saturday and another on Sunday! Busy times ahead. I foresee plenty of tea will be drunk this week.

Day 156 - Safe Drawing

Thank you to Myrrha for buying us an Aquadoodle. It is by far one of the best presents ever. I can safely leave the girls on the floor to draw without having them draw all over the table or themselves nor does it allow them to fight over the pencils.

I love that it is just water and then dries clear! The girls love it. They love it so much, it was peaceful for nearly an hour, it might be a regular fixture in our mornings.

Day 155 - A day full of Parties

We had a day full of birthday parties today.

We started the day celebrating Patrick's birthday and finished the day celebrating Rubi's birthday. It is for obvious reasons going to be a very busy time for us with all our little friends celebrating their 2nd birthday. It was such a busy but fun day. We have more birthday parties coming up in the next 2 weeks.

The girls have slept very well today, I hope it continues with a sleep in tomorrow morning. I know, I am dreaming. I can live in hope can't I?

Day 154 - Library Bag

Now the girls are 2 they are able to go down to story time at the local library on a Monday. I thought it would be a great idea to get my sewing machine back out to whip them up a library bag each.

You would have seen the fabrics from yesterday's post. With a child and work free day today I took the opportunity to sew my first one.I am pretty happy with the result other than some very random stitching from my sewing machine. There are a few things I will google before I sew my next one.

My sewing machine punished me today a few times for not getting it out more often. (The needle actually fell out of the machine... I haven't worked out how that happened yet!) and the noises it made today certainly are telling me either that I don't get it out often enough or it is time for a service.

Hopefully I can finish my library bags project before I need to do that.

Day 153 - Fabric

I found these beautiful fabrics while shopping in Spotlight a few weeks ago.

I am going to attempt to make library bags for the girls and Patrick in the next few days. Since we are all 2 (well nearly Patrick!) we can go to Story/Rhyme time at the library on Mondays. So I think it is a good time to introduce a library bag.

I just love the owl fabric.

When completed I will take another photo to show the finished product. I am hoping this blog will force me to do things a little quicker.

Day 152 - Nanny and her girls

Now I know my mum doesn't look very happy, well certainly not as happy as Olivia, Madison and Ava, but trust me she was in her element having cuddles with her girls while watching Mickey Mouse.

We took several photos attempting to get all 4 of them smiling, as you can see we had a 75% chance of all of them smiling. Pity the eldest one couldn't comply!

It was a very cute moment in time I didn't want to miss.