Christmas In Sydney

We had a fabulous Christmas in Sydney full of family and love. And we got TOTALLY spoilt with lots of pressies.

The Wiggles concert

In early December we were very lucky to see The Wiggles in concert. What fantastic entertainers! We were in the second row of the AIS arena so had an absolute ball. Kya went down into the mosh pit area with her friends (hopefully the video of her dancing will work), but Mali stayed pretty wide-eyed on my lap most of the time. It was just magic for the girls.

long time!

I think a few catch up posts are in order seeing as I haven't blogged since November. Woops. Bear with me - this may take a while!

A Gorgeous Dolly Quilt

I received a fabulous parcel this week from Ingrid for the EB Quilters Doll swap. As well as a gorgeous quilt made from the most adorable fabrics with sweet hand quilted hearts, it was filled with lovely goodies for me and the girls, including some of her fabulous lottielulu hair clips (on Hollie Hobby cards, which made me smile - Ingrid, how did you know that I had a yellow Hollie Hobby bedspread when I was growing up!), some grogeous fabric, some yummy chocolate, all wrapped in an adorable piece of yellow vintage cotton which will soon be a little dress. How incredibly generous, thank you so much Ingrid - it's just wonderful and I feel very lucky and spoilt! We had all agreed to wait once our parcels arrived to open on the same days (the 6th). I swear it almost killed me having a surprise that I couldn't open in the house!

My doll quilt from the EB quilter’s swap arrived at it’s new home too! I am so glad that Corrie likes it. I was quite nervous in sending it off, so I am so thrilled that Corrie (and Keira)likes it.

The favourite game in this house at the moment is ‘patting babies’, so the quilt is just perfect! We have two cardboard box lids that act as baby's beds. Mali has fun last night playing with the new quilt, which she has claimed. Check out the smile – she scrunches up her eyes and says “cheese”!

Mali is speaking in little sentences now – it is just too cute - “me read books” “mali do it” and my favourite - “my turn now please mummy”. She is convinced that she is toilet trained, being the copy cat that she is. She gets up in the morning and says ‘toilet now’, sits there for about 2 seconds, says ‘paper’, then ‘finished now’. She has done a wee on the toilet twice – pure fluke, and I don’t think the connection was made! She insists on undies when she is getting dressed. The day care centre also indulges her fantasies and lets her sit on the toilet whenever she insists during the day. Gosh she makes me laugh my small one.

We Love Justine

We have had a fantastic weekend - after swimming we had a party for Jasmine's first birthday, then a quiet birthday breakfast for Maddie this morning, and we ended the weekend with the Justine Clarke concert this afternoon. (I think that I was more excited than Kya about seeing Justine in concert).

Justine is a presenter on Playschool who has released a fantastic CD for kids - the music is complex, layered and so fun. Writer Peter Dasent (Playschool pianist) has used samba rhythms, circus music, jazz beats and a wealth of musical tricks to give each track it's own personality and story. The lyrics and themes have also been carefully written, being relevant to preschoolers, yet surreal and silly. In the same way that Playschool addresses each individual child, Clarkes' singing does the same. While taking on the role of a cheeky kid, she is singing to her best friend and expects them to join in. It's difficult not to!

We got her CD last Christmas and it has been on high rotation ever since. We sat with Bronwyn, Holly, Isabelle and Maddie and the girls had a ball. Kya, Maddie and Holly disappeared down the front to the 'mosh pit' to get up close with Justine - you can see Kya in the bottom of the photo where Justine is singing the "lets dress Up". The concert was lots of fun - she is a fantastic kids entertainer (and I was pretty enthralled too!). Kya informed me on the way home (just before she fell asleep) that she loved Justine and that "watermelon" was her best song. Nanna and Honey also know all of Justine's songs and the I Like to Sing CD is in #1 position in their car CD player too. Nanna informs me that Honey's favourite is "watermelon" as well!

Kya, Mali and I stayed behind after the concert and we met Justine - she is so lovely and had a photo with the girls and signed our DVD.

Doll's Quilt Swap Teaser

A couple of 'teaser' shots of some of my little angels for the EB Quilting Girls Doll Quilt Swap. I hope that my swap partner is happy with the finished product (which is sandwiched and ready to be quilted)

Sydney for the Weekend

As swimming lessons were cancelled for the weekend due to a carnival, I took the girls up to Sydney to see everyone. Had a great weekend but I was so exhausted when we got back. We had a great morning tea with some friends from school, then went to a work function with my sister Monique which had a kiddy farm, face painting and Squeeky the clown – too much fun! We had a lovely afternoon tea for my Nanna’s 75th birthday. On Sunday mum and Dad had a BBQ and I got to catch up with my cousins from Adelaide. Nikki has been living in Japan for the past 18 months. I caught up with her when she got back and popped into Canberra, but I hadn’t seen Sara since I got married almost 5 years ago. It was the first time that we had met Sara’s fiance Josh.
I love being in Sydney but the travelling takes it out of me, plus I find it so hard to catch up with everyone that I really want to see. I missed out on seeing my friend Shel and her family because we simply ran out of time.

This is Kya (wearing my boots) with Fred. I got Fred for my 1st birthday and he has been much loved and played with (so much so that this is not the original Fred, it is replacement Fred!)

My sister Kat HATES having her photo taken, but she really is so gorgeous and should let us take more pics of her.

Happy Birthday Papua New Guinea

On 16th September we celebrated the 32nd anniversary of PNG Independence. We attended the Ecumenical service and communal lunch with Tangis. The girls dressed in their meri blouses that Bubu sent down from Alotau (they looked absolutely gorgeous). We had a lovely day catching up with everyone. I miss spending time in the PNG community and hope that as the girls grow older that we can get a bit more involved so that they can be involved in the traditional dancing and singing learn different things about their culture from their elders.

Father's Day

Daddy came over for lunch on Father's Day and the girls gave him the fantastic gifts that they had made at day care. Mali had done a special hanky with her handprints on it (I got his framed) and Kya had done a "World's Best Dad" Award.

Swimming Lessons

Kya and Mali have started swimming lessons this term and they are absolutely loving it. Their lessons are more about water awareness than actual swimming, with lots of singing and games. Great fun! Daddy takes them in and he is enjoying it too!

The Lunar Eclipse

We were fortunate to see a lunar eclipse on at the end of August which was really spectacular (it was also a blood moon). Kya was quite fascinated by it.

New Dollies!

Dear Sarah,

Thank you so much for giving us your beautiful dolls – as you can see we are having so much fun playing with them.

Love from Lulu and Mimi xxx

My singing diva!

Check out Kya singing the alphabet last week! You need to bear in mind that this was unstaged - she came up to me and said "mummy, can you please photo me singing my song, with my backpack on?" Check out the microphone!! Isn't she a scream!

Big Girl's Bed

Mimi had been trying to climb out of the cot, so I got a todller bed for her. She was so excited that she was a big girl and was allowed to sleep in a big girl's bed. Lulu was slightly jealous and tried to hop in with her until she realised that a toddler bed is pretty little and wouldn't fit the both of them in. The girls trying to squash in together

Mimi in her big girl bed (with the safety rail up)

Cheeky Lulu in her bed

sick again!

Poor Lulu is sick again. We saw Dr Lim this afternoon and she has another chest infection, but this time, her lungs are suspect too. So I get to work from home this week while she recovers. Mimi is thankfully fine.

I have been seriously trying to work out ways that I can sneak some sewing in this week. I am feeling so inspired to get into my craft again after not doing much for so long. Mum and Kat are coming down from Sydney this weekend to look after the cherubs and I am going to the coast with some other mums from EB. I am planning to read (still haven't finished The Time Traveller's Wife that I started on the flight back from LA, nor have I read any of my book club books for ages), and take down some of my applique work.

We have had some lovely gifts arrive in the mail in the last few weeks - lovely hand-knitted jumpers with matching beanies from Kyls' mum Lyn; Texas presents from my yankee friend Kel; and a little toy each for the girls from my sister Monique and her hubby Jon. Lucky us! I'll take some photos when the girls are better.

The girls are gowing up super fast. Mimi started to run on the weekend! It was so cute watching them play chasings (and listening to the giggling that was involved). Mimi also comes out with random complicated words - this morning it was "butterfly", as she had a butterfly on her top. Lulu is a little miss. I was watching her play with dolls on the weekend and she said "Oh my goodness, look at this mess"! (Wonder if I say that a bit too much?) and then she came out with "dont you DARE". (again, while playing with her dolls. I am sure that one is not from me)

My wonderful friend from school Mark is getting married in the UK this weekend. I know that he sometimes checks in here, so a message: Mark and Victoria - may all your dreams come true. Have a wonderful first day of the rest of your lives together. We must catch up when you are next in Australia. (and please email me some photos).

Lub Yu

When I was putting Mimi into bed tonight she gave me a kiss and said "lub yu". SO gorgeous!!

My God - how did 7 months pass by?

Far out - do I get the record for the slackest blogger? 7 months with no posts - that must be a record!

A very busy last few months including a whirlwind world trip for work (oh Paris in the springtime... plus London, Copenhagen, Canada and USA!!!)

I am going to make a concerted effort to blog more regularly and post pictures of my absolutley gorgeous girls! Partly because I am so slack at keeping track of all of the amazing things that Kya and Mali do, and I will forget it all if I dont start writing it down.

This photo is my favourite of the last few months - shows Kya in her bossy pose and Mali's mischevious look.

I can't believe how fast my little people are growing. Mali has been walking for two weeks - SO cute.

We had a great weekend away last weekend with our wonderful friends Tonia and Vicky (who I was in PNG with) for Toni's son Daniel's 21st. Kya has been telling everyone about going to "Dangle's party". Here are some pic of the girls with the birthday boy.
And a picture of me with Toni and Vicky at the party

What a busy life - promise it wont be so long until I post again!

How does everyone else do it?

I am at a bit of a loss as to how everyone around me copes so well. I feel as though I barely cope. I am a mum, run a house, work a full time job in part time hours and feel as though I don't do any of my roles justice. My house is an absolute disorganised shambles and I cant see my way clear. SIGH! I feel as though I take one step foward in my quest for a clean house and organised chaos and then two steps backwards. I just want to have some sense of order in my life before I start full time work again after Christmas.

On the home front my girls are great. Mali is a real giggle pot. She laughs hysterically in the car and claps her hands. Kya comes out with new things every day. Latest is "Stop Mummy" (complete with hand actions) and "no Wally (Mali), its mine". She "swims" like a fish in the bath, swishing actions and noises. Mali sits next to her in the bath oblivious and just splashing as hard as she can.

Kya refers to herself as LuLu, and responds to LuLu. If I say "Kya", she will often say "no Mummy, LuLu". Tangis always calls her LuLu or Bubbles (Princess Tiny Bubbles) and I think that I must use LuLu regularly too, for her to have picked up on it so strongly.

We are off to Mum and Dads on the weekend. I am heading to Melbourne for work (annual conference and AGM) and am leaving the girls with Nanna and Grumps for a night.

Work again tomorrow, so I'd better go and get some sleep - God knows that I will be up at least once during the night with Mali.