Day 273 - A Day Full of Fun

No I did not ask them to pull a funny face,
 but I am glad they did! 

Today I played Aunty and took Austin and Andrew out and about. We had a few things on our agenda. Unfortunately the weather wasn't very nice so the morning of mini golf had to be postponed, but instead, we went out to lunch in Woden, went and watched the Smurfs at the movies and then ended the day with some fun at the Fun Factory in Fyshwick. A busy day indeed, we'll all sleep well tonight. I hope they had as much fun as I did.

Day 272 - It is never too early

I went out to one of my favourite shops Kikki.K today without my 2 favourite followers. I had a lovely time wandering around in there finding all the gorgeous organising stationary that I just love. I purchased a new diary and calendar ready for 2012. It is never too early I say to be organised!

Day 271 - Little Mummies

The girls have begun a new game and I can only assume this is a learned behaviour from daycare. Olivia makes a pillow out of face washers or her blankets. She then proceeds to lay down and cover herself with her blanket and calls out to Ava to come pat her. They then swap places and Ava pats Olivia. It is very cute, especially when Ava decides to pat her babies as well.

Day 270 - Picnic at Floriade

Today we went for a picnic at Floriade with Bev, Cathy, Sue, Ben, Jai, Belinda and Henry. It was a beautiful day for strolling around looking at the flowers, having a little play and eating some delicious food. I know you are probably reading this thinking why on earth go to Floriade and not have a photo of the beautiful flowers. My next trip will be a longer one and will definitely be taking more photos of the flowers. Anyway, how could I go past capturing my 2 gorgeous girls playing hide and seek together!

Day 269 - Happy Birthday Grandad!

Today is Dave's birthday and on our way home from the coast we told the girls that it was Grandad's birthday, which ended with Ava singing happy birthday to Grandad for most of the day.
Happy birthday Dave, hope you had a lovely day.

Day 268 - Making the most of our opportunities...

A wet weekend at the coast doesn't equal a lot of fun for the girls or us. After celebrating Ian's birthday last night we had a little breakfast in the Bay with mum and dad before they went home and then hung around our accommodation. When the rain eased and the sun decided to poke its head out, we took the girls for a little walk and a splash in the puddles. I just wished I had brought along their gumboots to jump in the puddles.

Day 267 - Happy Birthday Ian

We headed to the coast today to celebrate Ian's 50th birthday. We had a lovely trip down. The weather  wasn't the best but we had a great time celebrating with Ian, Teresa and their lovely family and friends. We also celebrated Ken's 50th birthday. They both had some interesting shows to remember their 50th by. Ken was surprised with a pole dance from Barbie and Ian had some wonderful people doing Karaoke - well sorry Ian but I just couldn't get up and sing, maybe next time...

Happy Birthday Ian!

Day 266 - 99 days to go!

We went out for dinner after working and daycare today. They always give us chocolates after dinner at the Rendezvous. The girls have learnt very quickly what chocolate is and certainly they know how to say it perfectly. They are obviously going to be chocolate lovers like me.

Oh and the countdown is on. 99 days to go!

Day 265 - Soi VIII Thai

We went for dinner tonight as both an end of term celebration as well as to farewell Lori upon her retirement. We went to a restaurant called Soi VIII Thai (pronounced So I ate Thai) in Griffith. It was a lovely night filled with delicious food and lovely company.

Day 264 - What are you wearing today?

With the weather starting to warm up, I decided it was time for the girls to start wearing some of their Summer clothes. I bought this shirt for the girls because I thought it was just far too cute. While at work today my mum dressed the girls. Olivia got to be the first to wear the cute ballerina shirt. When she put the shirt on she said to mum 'I'm wearing Mummy today!' She says the cutest things sometimes! I do wonder though when she thinks I walk around in a tutu...

Day 263 - A treat for my feet

Today I gave my feet a little treat. Teresa and I went for a lovely pedicure. Knowing we had a special birthday party to go to and how hard I had worked this term I thought it was about time I gave myself a little treat. I think the hardest part of the pedicure was choosing what colour to paint my toe nails!

Day 262 - Sandy times ahead

Sand is the girls favourite thing to play in when we are outside. Quite often after daycare we have to shake them off before taking them inside and it often makes an appearance in the washing machine. So now the weather is warmer, the sand table has made a reappearance. Pity when we play with the sand most of it ends up on the ground rather than in the table. Oh well, grass grows well with sand doesn't it?

Day 261 - The view from behind

We took the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful Spring weather with plenty of playing outside and having a picnic together. The girls enjoyed some fruit together after a morning of playing in the sand and having a great time. I took the opportunity to get a photo of the girls together, however they were not as obliging so I had to settle with the view from behind. I wonder if you could guess who is who?

Day 260 - A gaggle of nuns?

Tonight we went to the Sing-a-longa Sound of Music. We went along expecting to see a few people be dressed up in costumes from the show. There were lots of nuns, some brides,  girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, brown paper packages tied up with string and even a brave man dressed up as the hills (all in green he kind of looked like a frog!) It was lovely to run into so many people on Saturday night. I loved seeing Karen dressed up on stage! Go you Karen!

Just before the movie started we had discovered something so shocking and yet so funny. Shane who came along for the night (and was not the only male there!) enlightened Sue and I that he had not seen the Sound of Music before. We were gobsmacked and I was pretty sure he was joking. Apparently not. Well tonight was probably the best version of the movie I have seen. I am pretty sure the atmosphere at the Canberra Theatre was the reasoning behind this. If you get the chance, go along, it is well worth it.

Thanks Sue for organising such a fun evening out.

Day 259 - Gymnastics!

Kindergarten have been learning gymnastics skills throughout this term and as a culmination of their wonderful efforts and the efforts of their gym teachers, we went on an excursion to Canberra City Gymnastics Centre today. There was lots of exciting equipment to use. Beams, rings, bars, trampolines and the foam pit.
The teachers were excited about jumping in the foam pit, however once I saw the children struggling to get out of the foam pit I decided against it. Even without jumping in the foam pit it was a fun excursion. The kids all had a lovely time. I think they are going to miss their regular Friday morning gymnastics!

Day 258 - Brumbies visit

Today was Walla Rugby Day. We celebrated by wearing our favourite sporting team colours, having a healthy sausage sizzle lunch and having 2 CA Technolgies Brumbies  come to visit. Matt Toomua and Christian Lealifano were treated to a celebrity welcome from the students at school. They happily posed for photographs, signed some of the 300 hats they gave to all the kids at school and chatted to them about rugby.
It is nice when sporting celebrities come to school and willingly spend time with the kids. It makes such a difference to the children who they interact with.

Day 257 - A unique Happy Birthday

Tonight after dinner Ava gave us an impromptu show.

She lined up her water bottles and one of Olivia's like they were candles, proceeded to sing happy birthday to someone and then blew the candles out. And by candles I meant straws! Far too cute. I can see her on the stage one day.

Day 256 - Sizes

Since having children I have one major gripe. The sizing of children's clothes.

Today I put the girls into a pair of tracksuit pants. Now usually they are a size 2 and they are growing into them nicely. However I have noticed that when you purchase clothes from different shops they aren't always the same! These pants are as you can tell way to long for them and other size 2 pants are becoming too short for them. Could we really not have universal sizes for children, it would really make my life and I am sure plenty of other mum's so much easier.

Day 255 - Meeting Night

It is a tricky day to take photographs when you work all day and then you have a meeting that night. I went to the monthly CARMBA meeting tonight, which was quite difficult after a long working day., but of course I enjoyed myself once I got there.
Thanks to Teresa and the other lovely ladies for bringing snacks to help get me through the night. I am pretty sure I ate far too many chocolate covered almonds. It must be my turn to take the snacks to the next meeting.

Day 254 - Nothing Says Sunday like a Sunday Roast.

When we were growing up we regularly had Sunday Roast for dinner. Those roasts always included mum's homemade gravy. Shane suggested a roast for dinner tonight. He is the designated roast chef in our house. It was delicious. Even more so because my mum made her homemade gravy. She must have read my last roast dinner blog on day 170!

Thanks Shane and Mum for a walk down Sunday memory lane.

Day 253 - A blossoming friendship

Today was one of the first of many upcoming CARMBA social events. A play in the park.  Since joining CARMBA we have formed some beautiful and life long friendships.

The girls were excited to play with Ella, Brydie and Kaleigh at the park today and according to Teresa the feeling is mutual. Kaleigh and Brydie had even decided who would play with who today before they got to the park! They are my kind of girls. Kaleigh picked Ava today and Brydie picked Olivia. Which is really quite funny because when we tell stories of our girls the Ava stories are similar to the Kaleigh stories and the Brydie stories are Olivia all over!

It was all very cute, as we were playing, Kaleigh came up and asked Ava if she wanted to play with her. Bless. They happily cuddled and played together for a while. I wonder what it will be like when we are all down the coast together in a few weekends!

Day 252 - Friday

Thank goodness it is Friday today.

Usually that means a later afternoon to make sure the classroom is functional for Kirsty when she returns into the classroom on Monday and getting all my marking done . However knowing that I will be back at work on Monday, in a different role, I have taken some marking and other things home to get done over the weekend. It is a little luxurious of me I know to bring work home, however it meant I would be a little less rushed this afternoon after what was a really long and busy day.

Thanks Sue for loaning me your fabulous red tote tray!

Day 251 - Strike Day = Quiet day

It was a very quiet day at work today! As a non union member of course, I don't participate in strike action, that does not mean I don't fully support what my colleagues are fighting for. Especially now they are considering not replacing sick permanent staff with casuals. Not only is that disruptive for all involved, it would put me out of a job right now.

I live in the wrong area for teaching. It is definitely not an area 'screaming' for teachers as often news headlines report. If this not replacing sick permanent staff comes in, I had better work my way to trying to find some kind of permanency.

Why am I not in the union then I hear you ask... that is a long story, far too long for my little blog.

Day 250 - Shoe lovers

It is funny how attached the girls come to a pair of shoes. First it was pink sneakers, then sparkly sneakers and then of course their boots. These Oshkosh shoes I have for the girls are their current favourite. Originally Olivia liked the pair on the right and Ava had the pair on the left. It is not always the case, which I guess is a good thing (it is showing early signs of sharing right!)

I hope I am not creating a couple of young Imelda's with this strong love of shoes they are showing already. Or maybe I am just compensating for never being able to find shoes I like for myself as easily as I do for the girls. Whatever the case, take me to another shoe shop and i'll walk out with more shoes for them. One can never have too many, right?

Day 249 - We heart Madison.

Today Madison came over to play with the girls. Both Ava and Olivia absolutely adore Madison and we often have 'discussions' about just who Madison belongs to! They play so nicely together, even though by the end you can't see the girls bedroom floor. They decided to get their blankies and with Madison's suggestion, became three princesses. It is very cute to hear their imaginary play together.

Day 248 - Flowers in bloom

Spring has certainly sprung early with the beautiful camelia trees flowering already in our backyard. I am not too sure how long the flowers will last with Ava picking all the flowers within her reach. I really must find some children friendly plants to plant which they can look after.

Day 247 - Father's Day

We took the girls down to the park to play this afternoon for Father's day. They always have so much fun when we go down to the park, with all the open space, the swings and the forts. We thought we'd take the ball down to kick on the oval, which the girls loved, especially when Shane kicked the ball into the sky (well according to Ava that is what he did!)

Happy Father's day Shane, I couldn't ask for a better dad for my children.

Day 246 - ToM

This morning I started a busy day with an early morning. I went and watched Austin present his solution to a language literature Tournament of Minds performance. It was a very clever response. Well done to the team, they obviously worked hard and worked well as a team.

Day 245 - Wattle Day

Yesterday was Wattle day. Kirsty had begun an art lesson of a wattle painting earlier in the week and I completed them yesterday and today by getting Kindergarten to paint the yellow flowers on with their fingertips. It certainly wasn't as messy as I thought it was. They are very simple yet very effective.

Day 244 - Hurry Up!

It is all about timing when getting ready for work on daycare days. It is most important to be ready myself before suggesting that it is time to go to school. Before I know it, they have their bags on their back and are telling me to hurry up!