Vampires....

Energy sucking ones.. not blood... the 'energy' sucking vampires are much more common and can be found almost anywhere... sad but true.. you just need to know what you are looking for..

Read one of Craig Harper's recent posts ~~~ Link here~~ so you can see the signs.... you might have to scroll down a little to get to it!

Another great motivation i read only today was from Jodie in sunny Mildura.... "Because I was told I can..." please read... lesson for EVERYONE!!!!

Eating going really well... exercise has taken a back seat with the wet weather, I dare not complain! We ended up with over 40mm of rain .... heaps!!! Little Laura was confused on Saturday afternoon... In the back seat she piped up "Mum.. look at the dust" when it was actually fog.. poor little might thought it was another dust storm. Then excited this morning when I dropped them at day care, she told her care provider that "I can drink the water from the kitchen tap now..." :)

Have been very busy with computer jobs, BAS, grant applications, invitations ... list is long but almost on top of it again. I have two more grant application to apply for this week. With the wet weather on the weekend, Jack and the kids came over to Dimboola with me to take photos for the paper of football and netball... it was so great to see muddy footy players!! I got drenched on the sidelines (and so did the camera) but we got some great photos.

I didn't take the kids swimming on Saturday morning, Hugh had a runny nose and Emilie was still recovering from our very early start on Anzac day (like 4am early... went to Hopetoun where my grandfather lives, he is a WW2 vet), so we went shopping. They had birthday money they wanted to spend. The girls brought raincoats and "Dragon booster" DVD's.. (Dragon Booster is cartoon on ABC...) Laura got new shoes, jeans and jacket... all from my new favorite kids clothes shop TOFI (they have mid season sale on... check it out...)

I have a simple philosophy with my kids clothing... They don't have a wardrobe over flowing with clothes, but what they have is good quality. I would rather pay a little more for one jumper and have it last a season then have it lose shape or fall apart. My mother was the same with us when we where kids. We where the best dressed kids at primary school.. (mind you... that wasn't hard when you went to school in the Bronx!!!!) Example... we had "Real" track'n' field tracksuits with "real" converse socks to tuck them into... Most had those take-offs. (Like I said... I went to primary school in the Bronx) Anyway.. works for me...

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Hallelujah!!!!

I still can't believe it.... it is raining... and really raining. We have had over 40 mm over the past two days and it is still falling....

This rain means so much to so many people!! Just so much.... We ran out of house water twice in the past week. We didn't want to get another full load trucked in, hoping that it would rain... it also means the water dispenser can go to the barn that has been on my kitchen bench since November. We don't need to buy drinking water anymore either.

More importantly, It is our "opening rain".. the break before everyone sows their crops. I don't now why this rain feels so different then the other storms that we have had??? It really feels like this is the beginning to the end of some of the hardest years we have seen...

Hallelujah!!

Smoke and computers....

doesn't sound like a great como does it???

But we have had just that... smoke coming out of the back of our computer... just back now..

Have much to catch up on so will be back with more soon...

What a day...

My wee little girl Emilie has turned five today.... our lives have never been the same since, each day brings more and more joy and love.... we are truly blessed....

Emilie.... 5 days old

I think Em was about 16 months old in this photo, Laura had a bad night and Jack and I just let her 'play' when she got up... 30 minutes extra sleep = 4 tubes of lippie. (BTW.. baby oil removes lipstick from anything...)

Emilie this morning with some of her presents...

She has had a wonderful day so far, morning tea with friends, a quick visit to her friend Will to deliver some burn cream (he fell from his motor bike this morning and burnt his leg) and just having a little sleep now. We have a community BBQ tonight, so cake in the oven to take with us. I am having a few issues with my cakes today, on my second one. No one likes crusty cakes. Because little luscious Laura's birthday is only 9 days after Em's, we have a joint birthday party the weekend between the dates, so next weekend..

The other really exciting news is my sister-in-law is in Labour in Deniqulin. Last year Jack's cousin had a baby on Emilie's birthday, little Austin, and fingers crossed Theresa delivers her new bundle of joy soon!!!!!! Stay posted!!!! (UPDATE: Just rang and the contractions have stopped... so mightn't arrive just yet...)

I sat at watched "The Secret" last night... haven't fully digested it all as yet... I think i need to see it again. My brother's, brother-in-law gave him the film. Tim is a business coach from Bendigo, and I can see why he sings it's praises... The film is brilliant. The principals can be put to so many things in your life.... well worth watching...

And little Amelia... born at 26 weeks 4 days gestation!!!! 613 grams.. now over 800 grams... some photos...

Aunty Rel's (Amelia's Mum) and Emilie looking at her.

Little Amelia. Emilie took this photo. I take photos for the local paper and Emilie wants this photo to be put in the paper like mum's.... (cute hey) She is a little trooper!!!

Okay... better go and give my kids some fruit! Have a great day!

Quicky...

Hi Hi... Just a quick post...

Been to Melbourne... lighting fast trip and home again.. more on that soon and a photo of the wee little Amelia....

Been cleaning all of our kindergarten's stuff... have moved to our new premises... cool... but LOTS of hours spent there also this week...

AND while at my brother's during the week, I asked im if he had a copy of "the Secret"... and ta da.. he did. So that is what I am watching tonight while all of you guys are partying hard With Phil...

More tomorrow... (my big girl's 5th birthday.....)

The Serenity ....

Just like in Classic Australian movie "the Castle".... we love the serenity....

We have return from a trip to my brothers block at the Grampians. This was our first trip, and won't be the last. We had a ball!!! Danny has a few hundred acres of mountain about 90 minutes drive from here. He lives in Melbourne, but this is his 'weekender"...

Had. A. Ball. It is so hard to describe this place. I was burnt out in the Grampians Bush fires 18 months ago and just now the trees and ground cover are starting to come back. That is itself is amazing to see. The shed, fully fitted out with kitchen, bathroom, two bedrooms etc wasn't damaged. Not sure how that happened seeing as all of the trees surrounding the shed where burnt. Some of the paint off the colourbond walls melted, that is how close it was to burning. Danny brought the property only in the last 12 months, so he didn't own it when it burnt.. that would have been devastating. Anyway... very comfy and so many things to do with the kids. Feeding deer, bull dozer driving, motorbike rides... There is no power. They have solar panels on the roof that charge batteries that run most things, gas stove, wood fire and a generator if you need to run anything else... (like a bug zapper for the extra bit of serenity you need)

The only way to the top of the range is in Danny's old Range Drover V8 4wd car. Cool.... Both Jack and I have 4wd cars but I don't think either of them had the clearance to up to the top over the rocks. You really can't see how steep it is from the photos... but you can see how rocky it is!

Another of a big boys toy.. Danny's bulldozer... just to tidy things up! Hugh loved it!!

This is one of the many old gold mine shafts that are littered over the property. Apparently in the early 70's and man died down this shaft. You can't see it in the photo, but there is still his ladder in here. He was pumping out the water with a petrol pump and died from carbon monoxide poisoning. All of the shafts are covered and are on the other side of the mountain from where the shack is.

Hugh just went and went and went until he stopped... which just happened to be on his fathers lap while sitting outside the shack.. so cute ...

This is my kids ex- uncle Jed with the girls. He is my sisters old boyfriend.. and the kids just LOVE him.. was great that he also came up!!

Dan has about 30 to 50 deer on the property. When the fires went through, the falling timber cause a lot of havoc with the fences, so most of them are loose in very rugged mountain. But Danny is still feeding them and they come back for food.

I took this photo just for you guys... I was is 'post' mode while walking around up the top of the range.... This photo show you how burnt the trunk of the tree was and the new growth.... just over a year later... The entire area looks like this...

This photo of Jack looking over the range also hows how burnt things are.. as far as the eye can see really... nice to see the green.

Mum came up yesterday for the day as well... One of the most interesting things from the trip is that no one knew the time.. or cared for that matter. We ate when we where hungry (made me think of the IE clam) napped when needed. I totally understand people who need to get away from schedules and routines... I could see myself up there for a week.. a few great books, a gas fridge full of food and a land line telephone for emergency (no mobile coverage as well...) The kids are buggered and are just now napping to embark on the Warracknabeal Tractor Pull tonight... a slight change of plans. Jack has just taken in our front end loader.. you see the Warracknabeal tractor pull is a 'vintage' tractor pull and as sad as it is... out loader is old enough to qualify... so Jack tried to resist the urge to put it in, but the pull was too great. I will post some photos and will try and explain how this all works.

Hope that everyone else is having a terrific Easter and please drive carefully...

Two more cute photo before I go...

This is my little Laura (on the Left) with her best friend Sophie, watching the street parade this morning.... and

Hugh..... found other ways to entertain himself...

Roadtrip...

Emilie, (my almost 5 year old) and myself are doing a little road trip next week. Were going to visit tiny baby Amelia at the RWH in Melbourne. Very excited about it. I would take the other kids, but I don't think they will be quite in the hospital. Emilie has been asking so many questions about her, so I think she will be interested enough to spend some time there. The wee little one is doing so well. She is now weighing a 'massive' 713 grams.

So Emilie and I will head to Melbourne on Tuesday night after Jack gets home from work and more then likely head to my sisters at Northcote. I also have a brother living at Werribee, but Sal is closer in for us. I have another very pregnant friend (like 37 weeks pregnant) that might come for the trip and if she comes we will stay at my brothers as he has more spare beds... exciting.

Back again on Wednesday. My mum is coming up to look after the other two while Jack is at work.

Before then we also have the Easter break in the middle. My brother (the one living at Werribee) has a holiday block at Moyston (at the foothills at the Grampians). We have never been there. I have always been worried as the few hundred acres he has is littered with mine shafts from the gold mines. But they assure me there is nothing near the shack... so that will also be an adventure for our wee little ones. On Sat night I think we are going to the Quambatook tractor pull... I am not even going to start to try and explain what goes on here.. click on the link if you are interested. For as long as Jack and I have been going out we have completed in tractor pulls... not anymore. All of his tractors that he used to complete with have been sold to buy more suitable tractors for the farm. Still fun to watch.

Then we have a semi load of gravel to spread near my front door to remove 'Lake Daniel' when it rains...

Weigh in tomorrow night. My friend Janita has rejoined after a three month break and put on a little too much weight.

Laura's hand is ok... the blisters, well the smaller ones are ok, but the large one is nasty.

Ok.. time to hang out some washing and find my son.... very quite.. goodness knows what he is in too..

Trucks...

Hugh is learning so many new words....


All day I hear "Fuck".... "Fuck"... "Fuck".....

So I stated trying to get him to say "Truck" instead...

He answers "No mum... Fuck Hell"...

I am giving up...

shhhh.... baby sleeping...

What a weekend.. and it still isn't over yet. Jack's brother and sister have both just left. One heading north and the other to SA... Great catch up with all of them. Love seeing cousins playing together. I am buggered, two late nights and early mornings... buggered.

We had a bonfire last night and cooking tea on it. True 'bush tucker" people we are hey.. Jack has a old plough disc that he welded legs on that we use as a bbq hotplate with green salad, potatoes cooked in coals with fresh corn (with chili and lime) also cooked in the coals. Delish...

I brought Jack's sister and her kids back up to the house, then only minutes after I heard Jack's ute and knew that someone had burnt themselves even before he pulled up. Surely enough, little Laura had picked up a stick and burnt her hand. Run it under water, but it still blistered, put her in the shower to clean off the grot, gave her some nurofen for pain and she wanted to go to bed. Poor thing couldn't settle. After an hour I tried to call our hospital and couldn't get an answer. So then, we rang that 1800 nurse on call number. Long story short, she made me feel bad that I didn't take her straight to hospital and that I shouldn't have put ice on it etc., but we ended up at A & E in Horsham.

The poor little poppet has one large burn and about 8 other little blisters. She has an amazing pain threshold, and has been so brave. But she is sleeping. She didn't fall asleep until about 12.10 this morning.. VERY late night. Hugh is also catching up of sleep...

so shhhh... my babies are sleeping...