April school fools

The teachers at our kids school are wonderful - and hilarious.

Madeline turned up to school this morning only to be greeted by a teacher that wasn't her usual one, telling her she would be their teacher for the day. She is one of the other teachers for their grade, but not her one. She proceeded to hand out a word search and then sat down at the teacher desk. Their education assistant was furiously circling words on the paper, calling them out as she found them, but none of the students could find a single word. 

After 5 or so minutes of every kid in the class looking for words, trying to process their new teacher and looking around the place - their teacher jumped up and yelled April Fools! It was a pretty elaborate prank, they had done a four way teacher swap and there was not a single word to be found on the page. The kids were ropable, but laughed so hard - cause they got every single one of them. Classic. I love their school - such a fun place to be!

 

my little pony: the movie

we checked out my little pony: the movie this afternoon with some friends. the movie was okay, the kids were not... i was about ready to resign as a mum. joseph is not doing so well being restricted in his sling (which has been upgraded to something he can't move about in and it's driving him crazy) and hence he's driving me crazy! he waltzed about the cinema here and there and decided at one point he didn't even want to watch the movie... while madeline wouldn't stay in one seat - and let's just say i didn't see a lot of the movie. it seemed nice, lots of bright colours, cute songs and... well, i guess we will be watching it on dvd on day so i can see what actually happened. 

oh being a mum is hard. i am hoping one day it pays off and as they grow up i'll feel like my hard work paid off. but, here's a picture of the girls looking all sweet and innocent (while joseph flat out refused to be in it...) to make it look like we had a good time. 

blackout crafts

the weather here on friday was crazy! considering it is now spring, we were all shocked to say the least that the weather turned sour and it was blowing a gale and pouring most of the day... then most inconveniently, our power went out at lunchtime. of course when i picked madeline up from school she wanted to watch tv and listen to music - whilst i wanted to cook and vacuum and do multiple things that involved power... but today it wasn't an option.

so we improvised. joseph sat next to us and played with his cars... and we made a dreamcatcher together, from a kit she got as a birthday gift. (when i say together, i had to do most of it because the threading holes were teeny tiny) but she decorated it and supervised and generally had the time of her life. who knew a black out could produce so much fun? ♥

off on an adventure!

this little monkey and i set off on an adventure this morning! as you've read from previous posts, dougs sister got married almost a month ago and last week she took off for her new life in texas. bryans family are giving them an open house this weekend and we are going to america! we are so excited even though there was a 16 hour flight from sydney to dallas involved... and to add to the amusement we arrived in dallas at the exact time we leave sydney. talk about deja vu!

our view crossing australia...

miss maddie ready to party in the usa

she was an absolute rockstar on the flight, chatting away to me, watching movies and sleeping... she was a great little travel companion and i am thrilled to have her here with me.

texas is big and busy and we were met at the airport by bryans sister and mother who whisked us home via our first taste of american food at one of the local burger joints. i know we are going to have a wonderful time and i am so excited for the next few weeks!

adventure world!

oh my goodness. the last time i went to adventure world i was about 13/14 years old, on a school reward excursion, so (giving away my age here) it was about 20 years ago. we went today as a final hurrah before we send bryan back off to america... and how it has changed!! they still have the go-karts, the pedal cars on the monorail, the sky lift and skull rock... but so many new things! amongst those is an insane new rollercoaster, the abyss... which was awesome! i'd say it was well worth the money that adventure world would have had to fork out on it, especially considering how weak the old one was!

we had a pretty relaxing day just chilling and riding the pedal cars around the top of park

and the chair lift across the pools and rest of the park...

even cruising past an old friend skull rock... 

what an awesome place for the kids adventure world is though! we didn't take ours today, but there is a "kids cove" with heaps of awesome, bright, low impact rides, pools and a water playground... we'll take them next time, i am sure they will love it!

freo prison night tour

one of my gifts for my birthday this year was to attend a torchlight tour of fremantle prison with my two dominiques.i was thrilled beyond words, as i love the place - and love fremantle too! i was born there and lived there with my family until just before my 4th birthday, yet for some reason i can't explain i love to go there almost as if it were going home. i love the smell of the ocean, the old buildings, the streets, the markets and well, pretty much everything it has to offer. 

i have been for the torchlight tour a few times now, but it's always as fun as the first time you go, with each of the guide having slightly different stories to tell and showing you little things you may have missed before. i love the yards and towers by night with such a small amount of light... if only the walls could talk, what stories they would tell. we brought dominique's friend bryan along for girls night (yes we make allowances sometimes) and he seemed to enjoy himself too... i mean seriously, who wouldn't enjoy a tour of a heritage listed, supposedly-haunted, old as prison bny torchlight. welcome to australia bryan! hahaha.

locked up and loving it! we had the last tour of the night, which leaves at 9;30, meaning it was totally dark, no one following us, a little creepy and lots of fun. there are always some hidden things to spook those brave enough to take on the tour.

the main cell block. there are day tours too and plenty to see and learn about, even a tour that operates in the tunnels below the building. do yourself a favour and read some more about it here, then book yourself in for a tour. it is amazing!

besties mega barn date

i went on a date with my best friend to the mega barn yesterday. it's been so long since we had time with just the two of us... but seeing as just the two of us doesn't exist anymore anyway since we had kids... off we went with our little boys. of course it goes without saying that they whined and messed about and (in my case) ran about the place but we had a good time. i got an awesome haul (i've not had a bad day at the barn yet, must be a good sign that i need to keep going on a regular basis) and we laughed and chatted and just generally had an awesome time! plus we may have even eaten hungry jacks on the way home, which is not something we do everyday and probably haven't done since we were teenagers... perfect bestie date. let's do this more often! ♥

on another note, same topic... how amazing is this lamp and shade that mum picked up as two separate pieces at her local opshop which now has pride of place in my room. on both sides... because there were two! the chances are so slim of something so glorious, but it happened and i am loving it. thanks mama!

disney on ice: magical ice festival

disney on ice, we love you!! this year is the third time madeline and i have been to disney on ice at the perth arena and all i can say is wow! they just keep getting better. this year was no exception and we loved every minute of the show.

doug and i bought madeline an "elsa" dress a few weeks ago to surprise her with before the show. she was so excited and her little face lit up as she squealed "is that for me? did you buy it?" and ran to grab it from doug and put it on at lightning speed. (well my love, i certainly did not stay up for the last few weeks sewing it for you haha)

it added that much more fun to the night to be dressed up as a princess, especially when we referred to her as your royal highness all night. she was loving the attention!

she was so excited though, when she saw that i had dressed up too. i was about to put on jeans and a tshirt when i decided last minute that it would be fun to dress up too and pulled out my red skirt and minnie ears that i had stashed in our dress up box. it was a winning combination and madeline was very excited about it. oh mum! you're minnie!!

i love this girl so much it hurts

my minnie get up haha ♥

my favourite this year was tangled... if i could possibly pick a favourite disney movie, i think that would be mine. i love the lanterns, the songs and most of all the sarcasm. best disney prince ever!

mads was also super excited to see the frozen section. what little girl wouldn't be. especially when we saw the signs in the foyer saying that next years show is frozen on ice. wild horses couldn't keep my girl from that one!

elsa doing her thang... let it gooooooooooo

maddie kept asking where her friends were (we went in a group last year and she was missing her little mates) and as the most crazy thing ever, we ran into them across the road when we headed to the car.

it had been ages since they'd seen each other last and it was quite the reunion... i love how much they love each other!!

a photo with the chicks... what an awesome night!

we love you disney on ice!! see you next year! ♥

hello! hillarys calling...

public holidays are the best... and this one was no exception, our friends rob and bianca have (just) moved back from kalgoorlie (yay yay yay yay yaaaaaay) and suggested we head over to the childrens beach at hillarys boat harbour for a dip. so we did!  

it's no secret that i don't overly love the beach (i can't help it, i hate sand!), but i think i may be able to be persuaded in the future, the kids were so excited and had the time of their lives... plus it was so hot that the water was a relief to paddle in while the kids splashed and joseph ran in and out of the water.

what a gorgeous day to be at the coast, how lucky are we to live so close? plus burgers at grilld afterwards? the perfect night out.

boxing day sales

at christmas dinner at my brothers house last night, doug mentioned how badly he wanted to check out the boxing day sales... and my niece grace almost fell off her chair with glee... i mean really, what could possibly be more exciting to a 12 year old female than the prospect of all day shopping with newly acquired christmas money, accompanied by someone other than your parents, who clearly is not going to patrol what you buy? absolutely nothing! so miss grace jumped in our car and this morning we headed off to joondalup to check out what was on offer.

to be perfectly honest, although there was lots of bargains to be had, i didn't really get anything too exciting. doug got some shoes and tshirts, grace nabbed some cute clothes and a diary... it was a fun day though, fighting the crowds, chilling with my little family...

and dealing with the hulk. haha

gidgegannup show 2015

we went off to the gidgegannup show again this year and had a great time! madeline had the time of her life, going on 3 different rides (one of them twice...) and looking at everything around her. joseph was quite happy to chill in the pram and eat watermelon for lunch as we walked around taking it all in.

we have been the last few years in a row and have been so pleased with the show... it's like a small scale version of the perth royal show, (without the crazy prices), without the crowds because it's country enough, with some smaller rides, exhibits, livestock to look at, petty zoos, displays and lots of stalls to browse. plus, some great food and all the show bags! we didn't get a show bag this year but we still had a great time. 

our babes chilling at the show...

and what's a show without icecream?

the funniest bit? my feet when we got home. i had been wearing my havaianas and because most of the show is on the oval and the neighbouring paddocks, my feet were filthy! we had a great day though and will definitely be back again next year!

cooper & savannah's birthday

i love this little family! 

cooper turned 5 and savannah turned 2 within a few weeks of each other so my friend kelly decided to give them a joint shindig in a local park. it was a lovely afternoon of kids, laughter, paint and cake. 

perfect.

savannah belle with her frozen cake

and cooper with his spiderman cake

kelly doing her mum thing

gorgeous kids ♥

thanks for the invite peeps! x

jen's baby shower

my bestie is having a baby!! yes that's right, i am going to be an "aunty" in 6 short weeks. wahoo! how exciting for me. today jen and mat had their unisex baby shower, affectionately referred to as a "babyq" perfect!

mat's friend felix was on hand and maybe slightly unwillingly assisted me with my decorating... especially the hanging of the teacups from the veranda rafters... quite conveniently he didn't even require a ladder... didn't take us long at all.

we were rather proud of ourselves, decorating away, still fulfilling our bestman and maid of honour duties, 5 years later. til death do we part and all that haha.

i was loving the water fountain... put to good use yet again. i have definitely gotten my $19 worth.

jen is having a turn with my bassinet, which my brothers and i all slept in, then madeline and joseph slept in... i am so glad to see it being used once again... and it made an awesomely cute place to pop all the gifts.

and of course because we couldn't (or should i say wouldn't) play games - we had a book for advice to jen and mat. i persish to think about what is written in there haha.

the kids had a great time, with lots of room to run around and mat's nieces and nephew to play with... it was just a great casual setting - and i think everyone really enjoyed themselves.

and of course, mat was in fine form... working his magic at the bbq. some things will never change.

there was enough food for an army... or lots of hungry people... and it was enjoyed by all

jen and her mum amanda ♥

not long to go now, jen is still looking good and happy!

parents to be, looking thrilled i see.

and i love this shot. i am so excited and can hardly wait! yay! a baby is on it's way!