It's been...swell

So as most everyone knows, i had my wisdom teeth out Monday just gone.

Was a minor horror story.
I chose to have them out via a local anaesthetic only, because, 1) the head dentist was unavailable for up to 2 weeks and we'd have to book hospitals etc and 2) i didn't want to fork out $1000 odd dollars for an anaesthetist to come to the surgery.

So we had the appt, and turns out i have a low/high tolerance for the anaesthetic because they needed gallons of it for me to go numb and it also wore off rather quick and needed a few top ups through out the procedure.

Then... she could only get 3 of my teeth out! we had to go back in 3 hrs later for the head dentist- who wasn't supposed to be available?- to yank out the last one. it was mighty stuck! at one point i was convinced my nostrils would come out also!!! The head dentist - Alex - did nothing for the fear factor caused by his profession! he was quite stroppy - he got cranky at the dental assistant because she changed her gloves, because she didn't want to put blood on my face, and even had a go at me, because i was making noises because i could feel stuff!! sheesh!

but out it came (though i think he chipped some enamel? :/) and along with some of my jawbone i have them as 'trophies' hmmmm i wonder what the tooth fairy will give me??

I'm going to throw in a warning here for you....i AM going to put in a photo of my toofy pegs so you can choose not to look if you like.  I will post it as the last one even though it makes sense to put it here :D


I am also - must still be affected my the pain medication! - going to show how swollen i got - it actually got a little worse the next day, but has gone done considerably now :) I go back on Tuesday to have the stitches removed. And i sooooo cannot WAIT!!! they are driving me batty!! they are on the side of my gums, so i can feel them ALL.THE.TIME!!! ugh!

We have been house hunting again, as we want to move from this house, we have found a few and have been looking far and wide. We just looked at one today, and it was the very 1st time i've regretted the truck being so big. this is the first house we have looked at and actually applied for. We are hoping the owner will be open to our proposal... cross your fingers for us :D

Possibly the link for it might work?  our new home in Yanchep??
I have been driving everyone mad i think posting all my favourites on facebook :)

Ok are you ready.....

Me first......

at the moment it looks like i've not cleaned my face properly
 after a messy meal as bruising has come up all
 yellowed around my mouth  :/

Ok eyes shut for the squeamish!!  .....

see the 5th smaller piece??  that's part of my jawbone! a part that they saved at least,
they pulled out a fair few chunks i think!! 

Ok you can open your eyes now!!
Jamie is still home, he goes back to work next friday, We are postponing my birthday lunch until his next R&R, but even that may get post poned again because i'd much rather we were movng instead!! :)
So happy 30th birthday to me for tomorrow. Say. Maybe Jamie will buy me that iPad afterall my suffering and sacrificing..... ;P lol  I will have to come back later and add in the photo of the flowers he bought me!! 30 Gerberas - he may have started something now,as he got me 29 gerberas for last year's birthday :)

Thank you all for your well wishes and thoughts.
Till next time
OXOXoxoxoxoxox
BJslkcs

A little bit of soul searching ....

....has been going on by me, for a loooonnnggg time. but over the last year or so, I've been doing it a lot more than i used too. Perhaps it's because i have my nights alone 4 out of 5 weeks? or maybe because I am starting to feel like a "proper" grown up? probably both.

I've been thinking about what things mean to us and how we live our lives, and the values/virtues that i hold dear (and hope Jamie does too). I've been thinking a lot about what is important to us. So we are going to make a few changes in our lives

Sooo, in all my thinking and after chatting with Jamie, plus getting the all important OK from the children.......

deep breath.......

We have decided to give up Christmas....*cringe.....waiting for reactions....*

Phew...

Well ok, not give up exactly, but more like exchange it for something that is more meaningful to us.
 Christmas, especially now Jamie is FIFO, has always been just a date for us, one that now means more money for us, as no one else wants to work those days except him.  Neither Jamie or I have any religious beliefs about Christmas, and I have spent the majority of my life having multiple christmas' anyway, to be able to see everyone :) 

Sooo what does all this mean to you, my lovely family and friends...well not much really.
It DOESN'T mean, that if you send us a Christmas card we will post it back to you saying "no thanks"
it doesn't mean we won't wish you a Merry Christmas if we speak to you on the phone or via email.
It doesn't mean we will shun the shopping centres because they have Xmas decorations up.
It does mean, that we (seriously, i mean it) would not expect any gifts from anyone, but wouldn't deny you the pleasure of gifting.
Oh and it also doesn't mean we will give up the annual Santa photo - I like that, as it gives me a definite point in time to show how the children have changed over the year.
 It just means that we won't have stockings 'from Santa',
 won't have a big ol' fake tree covered in plastic baubles, even though they ARE so puurrrty :D
and it doesn't mean we won't have any special celebrations or special meals. who knows we might mark the changing of the seasons with some gifts and a special meal? we'll just do what works for us.
 The children are all 'cool' with the 'no santa' thing - though Lily did take it the hardest,(damn you Polar Express!!)  but she is good now.
I've never been fully comfortable with the whole Santa (and tooth fairy/easter bunny) thing anyway, but I admit, I have on numerous occasions used it to my advantage ;p.
We are trying to slow down our pace a little more, and pay more attention to ourselves as a family, I seriously need to give up or at least curb my internet addiction! that is a key goal of mine!!! and we want to cut out all the "junk" in our life. I've noticed the children (especially Samuel) are getting a bit caught up in the whole "I want, I need, gimmee gimmee" aspect of Christmas. Also, after nearly a year in suburbia, i have had my fill and want to 'go bush' obviously not so easy when we have 3am wake up calls and 7:30pm arrivals at the airport for Jamie ;D, but we are planning to move a little more rural. Like they say you don't know what you've got until it's gone :)

Birthdays have always been more important to Jamie and I anyway, so we intend on focusing on them as a start. We would like to start some family traditions of our own. And..... well i haven't got that far in my thoughts yet, but I just wanted to get it out there and let you know what we're thinking.....and give us plenty of time in case we change our mind ;P

So I'll leave you with my revelations for the night...one thing at a time huh ;p and will try post some photos next time.

Happy 100th Birthday for Monday (22nd) again Nanna, Sorry we couldn't be there :c

OX(OX)oxoxoxoxox
B(J)slkcs

PS. Just so you know, we aren't going to turn into a bunch of hippies dancing naked 'round the moon or anything!!  could you just imagine Jamie with dreadlocks and body paint!  *snort..BAAHAHAHAHAHaargh! thump!*
 sorry about that! I fell off my chair laughing!!!
no, we will still be completely normal and bathe regularly :D
LOL...body paint.. heh heh heh.

updating 'cos i should

I have been feeling 'flat' and 'down' lately - you know the whole "woe is me" "hard done by, and unappreciated" type down and flat... well time to "take a teaspoon of concrete and harden the F#$% up" as they say, me i prefer to say 'suck it up princess' slightly more civil huh?

anyhoo, here are some photos of Kaytie and Claire's birthday "party" We went to a neat place i 'found'.
 I was actually looking at going to the Botanic Gardens, but they advertised it on their site, i believe they are 'sister' sites. We went to the Maze Family Fun Park with our homeschool group.

both K and C received whoopie cushions :/
 - both seem to have mysteriously 'disappeared'
Kaytie also has a pocket microscope in the other hand....
that thing is AWESOME!!



Claire received some neat 'magic' UV beads



This cute little lizard was almost squished,
 He (she?) didn't seem to be going anywhere.
hence the photo opportunity.

even though he was repeatedly told to not touch it,
Nature Boy decided he had to pick it up.
I guess he is probably the nicer type child to 'interact' with the poor thing.

Claire's new HS friend "G" also a QLD'er
Hurrah!! someone her age AND SIZE!!

Claire's unique, yet effective mini golf technique.

Claire and Sophie allowing Kaytie to play through.
Sophie has a 'backpack buddy' for the airport -
she insisted on having it when we
off-loaded our gear into the truck.
We prefer to cuddle our 'buddy'
 it's a panda in case you hadn't guessed ;)

naaawww - we love our Pandas :D

So i guess you could be asking yourself 'if they went to a fun park called "The Maze", where are they all??'
Well guess what? I didn't take any, so shush up or i'll finish this post right now, ok!  Don't make me turn this blog around!;p

What i did attempt to take photos of, were portraits of the children, as recently we received a voucher for professional photos, well we went along and had the session and went back for the viewing. Now don't get me wrong, we weren't naive about studio prices, but we were certainly shocked at the final pricetag for our 3 final canvas'  over $3000 the cheapest would have been $900.

Well cheapskate that i am, politely declined them and we went on our merry way...keen on the idea of reproducing the ideas for ourselves. Well here are some of my first attempts ....

you wouldn't get dirt in a photo shoot ;)

can you believe he's only 11!

still a favourite game in this family, not that you'd guess here, but Samuel is normally the instigator

"are we done yet??"

yes, ok we're done :)

OX(OX)oxoxoxoxox
B(J)slkcs

oh ps heres a spider we found....super cool!

see all her babies on her butt  abdomen.

Happy Birthday to my Daddy-O

I'm dedicating this post to my daddy-o :)

It's his birthday and he is officially retirement age...55

Since he is in NZ at the moment doing some work on his "retirement home" Can I get away with this as a prezzie?? ;p

Dad,
I may not say it often,
I may not say it loud,
I may not say it to you,
But I am,
Oh so proud.
I'm proud to have you
As my father.
I'm proud to have you,
As my friend.
Dad I'm glad,
I am your daughter.
I'll love ya til the end!

As much as i wish I'd written this it's actually a poem by D. ALSUP

 but it does sum up my love for my dad- we don't talk much, but we always have a laugh when we do. Loves ya dad!! OX(oxoxoxoxox too)

OH I'm SOOO ANNOYED!!! had planned on a huge post with heaps of photos, but Blogger sucks tonight!!! I can manage eventually one photo, and then i check it and it's disappeared!!! HATE YOU RIGHT NOW BLOGGER!!! :(  maybe it'll work in the morning??
hope so, but even if it does, with all the time differences, it'll probably be too late :'(

on another note Jamie is home tomorrow   tonight :) so yay my week is looking fun... not that it usually isn't ;P


OX(OX)oxoxoxoxox
B(J)slkcs

She's here! she's here!!

I have to share this news!!  My cousin Claire has had her baby!! I'm sooooo happy for her!!  understandably both the new mama and papa are exhausted after an all day effort! and have yet to "officially" announce the news themselves, but i am so desperate to share this beautiful new addition to the world, here would HAVE to be the safest place without "stealing their thunder" right????

Is that not the most beautiful new mama photo you've seen in a long time?!?!?!?!?!? and how BEAUTIFUL is that baby girl!!

8lb 5oz        19.5" long    37cm h.c. at 10:30pm Adelaide time

And can you believe this beautiful baby whom has been named Harmony Grace... was born on Harmony Day! How awesomely special is that!! :D

I'm hoping Jamie can handle the tribe for the night so i can "dash" over for a visit he's home on the 28th so hopefully soon :D

I get all teary with joy whenever i look at that photo, but then i've always been a sucker for babies :D

Happy Dreams to all, I know mine will be :D
OX(OX)oxoxoxoxox and one extra for Baby Harmony OX
B(J)slkcs

PS. If big Claire Bear is MY cousin, What does that make Harmony to me and/or my children??

Complete AWESOMESNESS!!! and more happy birthdays :)

Guess who is excited!!!

ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back story first. - Went to the library the other day to return some books, as i was - ahem - overdue, that's ok, we hadn't got to most of them because of Grandma Robyn's visit and i can reborrow, right?

So Monday morning (remember Sophie was off colour today) we lugged our  +/- 70ish books back to the library (Jamie did the heavy lifting heh heh) and waiting, waiting, waiting in line "no dear, i'm not selecting more today, i'll just re-borrow some and pick up the reserves" waiting, waiting, waiting some more. We are finally served and having previously returned 50 odd books through the chute on entering the libray asked to reborrow the ones i had left "sure no problem," says the librarian.
 Uh oh problem, all the cards that were swiped were full and overdue, so another 5 minutes were gone sorting thrrough which had been returned or were still at home. thats ok easy, now lets re-borrow these - cool!.........no, not so cool :( out of the 15-20 books we wanted to re-borrow, we came home with about 5! Two of which, to Samuel's dismay were the wrong ones! it seems we had some popular titles as they had all been put on reserve :( and were not available for me to take home again. Aww mannn! i had plans for them!

So my question could be, Is it wrong of me to perhaps next time borrow an awesome book, and then reserve it again and again, alternating each of our six library cards? Sure i'd have to take it back every 3 weeks, but i could do it.......Right? I guess if i have to ask, it just probaly isn't right LOL

So that was about 20mins gone! - and as most of you know us, Jamie doesn't tend to have the most patience for the boring and mundane....or very slow!

OH CRAP!!! i've just spent the last 20 mins (i'm a slow typer ok!) writing all that and i've come to the realisation, that it has absolutely NOTHING to do with why i'm excited!! D'oh! oh ok it has to do with the library - but that's it . Ha Ha Ha - i couldn't bear to delete - it was 20 mins after all!

So why am i excited then?? Well, while at the library again, we borrowed a tonne of DVD's, one of which was "Sculpture by the Sea - the 10th anniversary"
We, ok me, I have been feeling a bit 'arty' at the moment, and thought i'd try introduce some ideas to the children. Dvd was a big hit ( i was a bit annoyed by the "children's short film" included - bah!)
So talking to Daddy about it that night and - bless his heart :} - what does he tell us? "that's on at the moment!? it's been all over the radio"
SO COOL! How is THAT for timing!!! - i swear my guy knows more about whats going on in Perth then I do! and he's half a state away!?! And right he is! March 3 - 22 "Sculpture by the Sea - Cottesloe Beach" here we come!!

On another awesome note, guess what we have discovered!!!

This place was so cool!! it was where we met for our last homeschool group on Friday, except we met around the 'corner' at a smaller quieter beach. It's Hillarys Boat Harbour (Hillarys is a suburb) Its a cross between Sugarworld and Southbank and a touch of sideshow alley? to the left behind the trees they have awesome waterslides, a huge rope  climbing course and rockwall and trampolines and kiddy chair swings and, and , and ,and everything!! it's called the great escape and then they have that awesome free SHADED playground (a rarity in WA??) on the 'beach'. TOTALLY WICKED!!!! :)

But like i said we were 'around the corner' in a little bay, the water was about knee deep for a good 10-15m and only gradually got deeper i think about 50m out before Samuel was chest deep??

But get this.... it's a BOAT HARBOUR!?!?!? to the right is a huge long jetty/wharf? separating the swimmers and the boats, but the water is sooooo clear!! so clear in fact that we spotted this, yeah ok it was in shin deep water, but still!

JELLYFISH!!  :)

We think it was dead. I'm pretty sure it would have been after Samuel kept throwing sand on it to see if it was dead!! -ugh! boys ;)

Well Karma got him back, because when we were at the big beach he thinks he was stung there. he says he spotted 5 jellies + the one that got him + a crab + 100's of tiny little translucent fishies darting here and there. I spotted a couple (maybe same?) fish jumping about out of the water here and there. Apparently jellyfish have been pretty common this summer because of the extra heat or something, with lots of people being stung.  Well thank goodness we aren't in QLD as it could have been a LOT worse - but then again in QLD they wouldn't have been in the water at the beach! Samuel has vowed NEVER to go into the ocean again! we'l see how long THAT lasts LOL.

 a BIG  Happy Birthday xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo to my handsome hubby mwah!

Sadly he is over 1500 kms away at work for another 3 weeks :( but we did get to skype and chat on the phonea couple times :)

Darn it was just trying to upload a photo of my handsome hubby , but blogger won't let me :(

So on that note i shall depart, and go and properly watch my fav. show.

OX(OX)oxoxoxoxox
B(J)slkcs

Happy (late) Birthday post to Lily

Wow!! I now have a 9yo daughter- you realise that means she'll be 10! next year!! it's only11.5months away :(
ok stop whinging!

Happy Birthday Lily!!

For Lily's birthday we gave her a "new" bedroom, so without further ado.....presenting........

Panda Land!

Surprise!!

Close up #1 - thats a real bamboo plant

Can't believe this had a $59 pricetag!! - i paid $12 on sale ! woohoo!





First night in "China"



Samuel says, at last count Lily has 29 different panda 'things'. and we are always on the lookout for more ;)

The green 'mat' in case you were curious, is actually artificial turf! it was the more expensive one, as it actually looks real - it even has dead brown 'grass' interspersed through the green, just like a lawn!

Now when ever they play Lily calls out "come and play in China" rather then, come to my room Lol.

She actually got her present early, on Saturday morning rather then Monday, as she wanted to be in it as long as she could before she gives it up for Grandma for the week.

We are hoping that Jamie will be able to get home on Monday night, as they are having an awful lot of rain at the moment. The airport has been shut on and off, but he is confident he will make it home.

It's frustrating for him, because with lots of rain they will shut down the site untill the weather clears, which means he has to stay in camp all day being bored brainless. On top of that he only gets paid 7.6 hours, instead of the minimum 10 or preferred 12+.

I'll have to catch you up on the rest of our goings on another time...perhaps tonight * when it's cooler.

* we all know what happens when i make 'deadlines' or 'plans' for posting!!

OX(OX)oxoxoxoxox

B(J)slkcs

So WHY are the children so PINK??? Hmmmm?

When Jamie comes home from his 4 week stints at work, he has decided, obviously with everyone in agreement, that we will go on day trips all over this great big state we have adopted. Until we can afford to buy a camper trailer/tent thing-o at least. Than we can head further from home.

As you already know we have been to The Pinnacles Next on our list was going to be Wave Rock in Hyden. At the last moment we decided against it as the temperatures where predicted to be high, and with all that sunshine beaming down on a huge rockface......... well I'm sure you get the picture.

So a new destination was required and after umming and ahhing we decided to visit Abingdon Miniature Village Knowing this wouldn't take all day, we also decided to we would take the children to the beach. for a BBQ lunch.

So very early Thursday morning - but not early enough, as we were 'lucky' enough to experience peak hour traffic! - how people do that EVERYDAY!!! is beyond my reasoning!

So anyway we got there on time, even though "Serena" our ever faithful GPS guide tried to send us past it. side track here, I am pleased to say "Serena" is in semi-retirement, and has been since before Christmas. I am managing to find my way around more and more by myself, and just have her on mute to be safe - I don't need her 'hoighty-toighty attitude if i'm already in a pickle. :) So  we finally got there and assembled ourselves alongside the truck for the elusive sunscreen smothering, but before we could even attempt to find it, we were BESIEGED by mozzies! so doing that German/Bavarian dance we learned back in QLD at the Gotta Go Caravan Park we dashed across the carpark to the entrance where we had to wait, while daddy dashed back to truck after forgetting his wallet, meanwhile mummy is looking around  asking where we are supposed to get our entry tickets from, when no-one was around - completely oblivious to the lady standing almost beside me in the little entry building!!

so after she gave us lengthy instructions about where and when the children could run, she finally relieved us of our biting irritating pests - and NO, i certainly don't mean the children BOOM BOOM ;p

We asked why there were SO MANY mosquitoes, and she went into another lengthy discussion about it all, ......... mentally crossing off this suburb in the house/land hunting searches!

FINALLY, We toddled off to visit the wonders awaiting us beyond the gate :)

All the buildings are handmade and require re-painting every 6-12 months.

The Village Green
 all the little 'people' are playing cricket

The little train went the whole way around the 'lake'
Mentally realising WHY so many mozzies about with lots of stagnant ponds about!

My two BIG boys pushing my two little girls in their strollers.  naaawwwww

All the miniatures are based on real buildings in the UK, this one
apparently has a tradition of the town leaders throwing
sweet buns off the roof, to the people during celebrations.

And my almost favourite part of the park.......

It WOULD have been my favourite, if it wasn't for the fact of the mozzies swarming us again as we went through!

This is the entrance to the 'secret garden'
 haha not so secret if it's on the map
i know i know, it's reference to the story ;)

See Jamie? cheeky boy, saw me with the camera
 and quickly turned before i could snap him

This was Clairebears choice of attire for the day,
both her and Kaytie have a 'thing' for socks and sandals at the moment!
uurrgghh ;)

Last but not least before we left (there was plenty i have saved you from ;D ) was another of my favourite parts the running labyrinth (you know i THOUGHT they were for slow, meditative thoughts?)

After we finished and escaped the mosquitoes we headed under "Serena's" so called guidance, we really need to remind her about the size of our truck! We drove past all the bazillion dollar homes and arrived at Hall's Head Beach, we are definately NOT beach people, and reluctantly let the children into the water to paddle - there was NO WAY we were going up to the patrolled section as a) we couldn't fit the truck any where and b) there were too many people and not enough space! So we allowed the children to go waist deep, where they had a great time being thrown about but the waves, except Sophie, who after feeling how cold it was and seeing it 'chase' her preferred to stay clinging to Daddy's leg. Claire also preferred to stay on the edge enjoying the sand moving  under her feet each time the waves broke on the shore.

I didn't get any photos as i was reluctant to take the camera near the sand and salt water.

The water was a big change to the beaches in Cairns we are used to, though where we were wasn't as clear as everyone raved about to us, due to all the seaweed and 'junk' (not rubbish) washed up on shore. Oh and STINK!! phew! that took a while to get used to!

The other big highlight was Kaytie (and everyone) finally got to see dolphins! we saw about 3-4 surfacing on and off for about 15 mins before swimming out of sight.

We spent about 2.5 hrs (prob. more?) there, spending the last half hour or so at the playground so Mummy and Daddy could have some shade, as Daddy mainly, doesn't have a decent hat and is now as red as a lobster!

I will leave it here as again i need to clean the kitchen up after dinner as again everybody is in bed.

We have had a little (and i mean LITTLE!) rain tonight, so that has been refreshing as i sit by the window here. In less than 20 mins it will be Sophie's 2nd birthday and i will no longer have any babies in our family :( but how exciting as things are moving forward and the rhythms in our home are ever evolving.

 Other babies though, are EVERYWHERE about me, an old high school friend of mine just had her second daughter 8lb 5oz - Tabitha Eve. And we can't wait til March when big Clairebear has her 1st bubby girl also!! seems to be the season for girls? i just remembered another high school friend is due to have TWIN girls next month!

I truly must go now, next time i will tell you where we went on the Friday (the next day)

OXOXoxoxoxoxox

BJslkcs

PS now It's tomorrow!

Happy Birthday "Soapy baby" mama loves you

2 years has gone too fast for my liking Sophie Rose, I'm not ready for you to be a big kid yet :)