Random Photos

The big kids are out, Alice is asleep and I have a whole pile of ironing that needs doing, so I thought I would post to my blog instead! Here are just a few photos from the last month, along with a special one from today - DS's baptism. Not a great photo as it was taken from the overhead projection (not sure why there is a box around his head!) but it is the best I could do. Our God is good indeed.

Kitchen progress

It only took four hours this morning to completely remove our old kitchen. And the worst part weas hacking up the darn cork tiles - that took almost three of those four hours!!! Anyway, enjoy the pics. Work on the new kitchen starts Monday!

Friday is the day!!!

My new kitchen arrives on Friday afternoon and it is pathetic how excited I am! DH and I take to the old kitchen with a sledgehammer and crowbar on Saturday, and the serious business of creating my dream kitchen begins on Monday. All going well, it should be complete by December 7th. Watch this space for before and after photos!!!

We went, we saw, we WIGGLED!!!!

Yes folks, today we went to the concert of the year (decade perhaps!) The Wiggles came to Launceston and Alice and I went to see them. We had bought our tickets months ago, and Alice was so excited by the prospect of seeing the Wiggles 'in real'!!They put on a fantastic show. The singing was awesome, they were very funny, and Alice had a ball. She spent most of the time jumping and dancing, and was one very tired little person as a result! Enjoy the photos and video. PS - ignore the utterly gross photo iof me and concentrate on the cute little person!!!

LOVE this!!!

I was sent this email by a friend today and just thought I would share it. It is fantastic!

Twas the month before Christmas, when all through our land,
Not a Christian was praying
Nor taking a stand.
See the PC Police had taken away,
The reason for Christmas - no one could say.
The children were told by their schools not to sing,
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.
It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say
December 25th is just a 'Holiday '.
Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit
Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!
CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod
Something was changing,something quite odd!
Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.
As Targets were hanging their trees upside down
At Lowe's the word Christmas was no where to be found.
At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears
You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.
Inclusive, sensitive, di-ver-si-ty
Are words that were used to intimidate me.
Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen
On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !
At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter
To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.
And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith
Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace
The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The reason for the season,stopped before it started.
So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'
Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.
Choose your words carefully,choose what you say
Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS,not Happy Holiday!

Goodbye to the old kitchen...

In just a few weeks time I will be taking to our old kitchen with a sledge hammer - and probably enjoying the heck out of myself!! We bought this house six years ago this month, and I have finally convinced my DH that the kitchen simply must go. It has been eminently serviceable for the past six years, but the house is over 25 years old and the wear and tear on the kitchen is starting to show. Most of the knobs fall off when you open the cupboards, some cupboards sag terribly and have to be hoisted up and across to be shut, the oven is so old that the heat leaks out and melts the oven surrounds whenever it is used, and most of the hot plates don't work. Needless to say, I am VERY excited about the prospect of a brand new kitchen!! I decided to go with a flat pack system, through Ezikit kitchens in Hobart. A batch buddy of mine used them in her house and was so impressed that she got them back to do two bathrooms, a powder room and the bar after her kitchen was done! Anyway, the kitchen is scheduled to be delivered on November 23rd, the electrician, plumber, tiler and joiner have all been booked, so now I am just playing a waiting game, dreaming of my lovely new cooking mecca. Oh, did I mention that this new kitchen will actually have a PANTRY??? (unlike the old one, which was obviously designed by a man!!) I have uploaded some pics of the old kitchen, and also of the new tiles, Formica and doors that we are using. The floor tile is the lighter colured of the two and the splashback will be in the darker tile and the Formica for the benchtops is the speckled sample.

A Busy Weekend

After starting out rather inauspiciously with my car being ruined in an accident on Friday, the rest of the weekend went reasonably well!! Managed to get my front drivers door collected by an old geezer driving far too close to my car around lunchtime Friday, which was rather upsetting and MEGA inconvenient. He was a cranky old bugger and offended me no end by calling me 'girlie' and telling me off for wrecking HIS car (a bomby old Ford which received minor damage compared to my poor car!!) Anyway, a quick call to my insurer meant that I got a replacement car by mid afternoon, and we were all set for our weekend's adventure - a trip to Hobart to catch up with our batch mates for our two year Forever Family Day reunion. We had a blast, Alice in particular, as we met up with the other girls, compared notes, and stared in wonder at the little girls who have come SUCH a long way in the past two years. From scared, tiny and unresponsive little babies they have grown into beautiful, fun-loving, bold and happy almost three year olds with a real zest for life. We met at a playgroup hall first, then travelled onto the MeWah restaurant in Snady Bay for a yum cha lunch. I have never been there before and it was divine!! The food was exquisite, and the girls had a blast running around our private dining room. DH even decided to go all out and try the jellyfish, then the chicken's feet. Urgh....Here are a few snaps from the day - please forgive the quality, but it is REALLY hard to photograph eight busy toddlers in poor light! Oh, there are also a couple of pics from our actual Forever Family Day celbrations - a very simple affair with cake, candles and lots of fun!

PS had to do the pics as a slideshow as, for some bizzare reaons unbeknownst to me, when I uploaded them as pictures on their own they were HUGE!!!



Go to ImageShack® to Create your own Slideshow

The Shouty Bird

Here he is:




Looks sort of sweet, doesn't he?? Well, he is NOT. This bird is pure evil, wrapped up in a cute feathery persona. Why??? Every morning at around 5.30am the Shouty Bird goes into action. He sits outside our bedroom window and shouts at all the other birds to keep off his turf. Now we live in a pretty leafy spot, with many, many birds. And most of them I LOVE to listen to. Their dawn chorus is breathtaking, incredibly melodic and soothing. Not so the Shouty Bird. The Shouty Bird is loud, obnoxious and repetitive. Quite frankly, I hate the Shouty Bird. DH wants to get a gun and permanenetly aircondition the Shouty Bird, and I am sorta coming around to his way of thinking. If only I had confidence in his ability to shoot a very small bird from a distance....

I'm BAAAAAACK!!!! And Happy 2nd Forever Family Day Alice!!!

Hello to all my friends who may have been wondering where I went. You see, I was finding this whole blog thing a bit of a struggle. Not enough time to post, nothing interesting to say, didn't think it was worthwhile carrying on. But since deleting my blog, I have had several lovely friends say how much they missed it, so due to peer pressure (of the nicest kind!!) I have decided to un-delete 'Our Journey to Alice'. And as you can see by the heading of this post, today is a pretty special day in our family. On this day two years ago I held my sweet Alice for the very first time. After years of waiting and wondering, the moment had finally arrived when I could hold my precious gift from God. And two years on she has come such a long, long way. From a tiny, 5.3 kg nine month old who could barely hold her head up and could not sit alone, to a rambunctious, fun-loving, affectionate and delightful little person. She is a true blessing to all who know her and I am so grateful that God chose her to be part of our family. So happy second Forever Family day my sweet Alice - we love you so very much. Here is a link to the post I did in China two years ago today.

Our first day together:

By cristinafairley at 2009-10-20

Today!!

By cristinafairley, shot with E-520 at 2009-10-12

Having a Blast

No photos as USB was not packed for good camera, but we are having a ball here on the Gold Coast. The weather has been fabulous (around 24 degrees every day)and we have been incredibly busy.Unfortunately Alice has been unwell with a chest infection but is now on antibiotics and is improving.I had a very self-indulgent day at Pacific Fair doing retail therapy and relaxing with no kids (thanks DH!!!) Tomorrow we are of to Dreamworld, back to Movie world on Tuesday then getting ready to head home. We have had such a great time and I really don't want to come home to cold Tssie weather!!!