Taking a shower

Mary's worked out how she can have a show without getting water in her eyes....rather a good set up I think!

Frampa by Mary

While we were staying in Sydney we came out one morning to find this adorable picture left of the sketcher. When we asked who had done it Mary rather proudly told us that it was "Frampa"

Somewhere over the rainbow

We were treated to the most gorgeous rainbows the other night after a day of rain. There was a enormous double one and we could see right from one side to the other! Magic!

Roses in my garden

When Frannie came to visit after Christmas she got stuck into my roses out the front of the house and gave them a good haircut, showing me how to do it properly. We went crazy on the weeds and cleared them out from around the bushes and then mulched around them. 

They have really bloomed and look fantastic, thanks Frannie!

Larking around at Frannie and Framps

We stayed with Lionel and Marianne while we were in Sydney and there were lots of laughs and larking about. The girls took the camera one Sunday afternoon and here are some of their pics....

Learning to do handstands on the stairs 

Frannie and Alex 

Uncle Abe and Mary 

Becky and Alex 

Darcy and Auntie Suzie 

Frampa! 

Hannah 

Lily

Mary and the chimes

This one is for you Frampa, Mary loves this song because it's just like you big grandfather clock.

Mary the monkey

Here's what Becky has been teaching her over the last month....

Marys first day of Kinder

We never thought this day would come....not that I was looking forward it and we'd love her to be our baby forever but seeing her all dressed up in her uniform I can see that she's really growing up now. 

Sigh.

Sunflowers

At the end of last year both Hannah and Becky planted sunflower seeds in their school classes and when they bought them home at the end of the year we planted them out in the garden. Becks must have been the giant variety because they grew to be rather huge and needed staking to keep them upright. Hannah's took a little longer to get started but by the time we came back from Sydney it had bloomed and was petite and sweet, just like her. 

What Mary and I got up to on the first day of school....

 It was rather quiet once the girls were back at school but Mary and I enjoyed pottering around the garden together and she kept stopping every few minutes and saying "I love helping you in the garden" It was rather cute. We also found this very cool stick insect on the roses out the front, she was rather taken with it.

Starting school 2012

Back to school came around as it always does.....Hannah started grade 3 and Becky, grade 1
Grade 3 means a move to the senior area of the school and Hannah was a little nervous but she's in a wonderful class with all her friends and a great teacher so she's really enjoying it.
Becky has moved into a grade 1/2 and is enjoying the challenge. Her teacher is Hannah's from last year and so the room and everything is very familiar. Here are the munchkins on their first day back.

Update from the garden...part 2

Well, things were growing really well and come Christmas time everything was looking great. When Dad visited he suggested we do a bit of work putting some irrigation and mulch in so that I could get the most out of the watering. We had such fun working it all out and you can see by the pictures how everything just thrived afterwards.

 

Some of our early harvests

Update from the garden.....

We moved the veggie patch last year to be up the back where the chicken yard used to be in the hope that the soil would be a bit better and it would get more sun. Boy did we pick it!
The soil was so easy to dig over and spring time saw Mummy planting and preparing like a mad thing. Here are a few pictures of newly planted veggies.

Happy Birthday Becky

While we up in Sydney Becky celebrated her 7th Birthday....what a grown up girl! She had a bit of a hard time working out how long til her birthday as we arrived halfway through January and her birthday is the 30th, the day before we left. I had to keep showing her the calendar and explaining when it was and reassuring her that she wouldn't miss it!

We're going to the Zoo zoo zoo!

No big trip to Sydney is complete without a BIG day out and this time it was the Zoo and the Museum! What a day. The rain stopped for the most part and when it started it was just a drizzle, just enough to cool us down. 

We had such a fun time catching the train in and the ferry across to the zoo. There were so many fun animals to see, we really could have spent the whole day there! Afterwards we headed over to the Museum where the girls were fascinated by all sorts of rocks and bones, Hannah was in her element!

Racing down to catch the ferry in the rain!

On to the Museum......