S.W.A.K.

Hello Hello People!

I am feeling the love from the States lately. Our mail box is full on most days! Boxes and letters make my heart so happy!

My mom sent us this fantastic spa set. I love it! She sent it to us because we have a nice big tub to use it in! :)

He's Destiny! Goofy girl!

We also got a package filled with my girlies favorite things from my Cousin Cora in Minnesota! They got goldfish crackers!

and cheetos! and graham crackers!

And tutus to wear on their birthdays! They are darling!

Addi's tutu! They are so excited for their outfits for the big day! I can't wait to see them in their cute tutus! (ya all know how much I love tutus!)

We also got a package from Matt's Aunt Nancy and my cousin Lili! It's SO fun to get mail! Thanks for every one who has written us or sent us a package full of fun stuff from the States!

I'm off to the dentist today. thumbs down.

Enjoy today!

The usual.

Hello! I bet you are wondering where I have been....I was wondering the same about you : )





I hope every one is very well! The truth is, I have bitten off a big bite of life and am having a little trouble chewing it all. Some things get neglected...like my house and my hair/makeup and my little blog.





I have a new goal this week. To blog, at least a few times! I miss you guys when I don't get a chance to write to you! I hope you miss me too!





Well, here are the typical catch-up pictures:





Dest counting down the days until her birthday via paper chain!

and counting...

Cold day = fort built in our living room = super fun for hours!

Invites to the girls b-day party. Disney theme! Come dressed up! Yes, you are invited...Australia a bit too far away? Aww...you needed an excuse to come here...so this one is perfect!

counting still!

Eating salmon crusted in hash browns.

Dog sitting this cuddly pooch! We love having Boomer around. *on a side note, after this picture was taken, Boomer was found in my closet, hiding! ha!

Still counting!

It's been a good week. Today we are going to celebrate the Queen's birthday with a royal party!

Enjoy today!

Tutus and Reading Glasses

Hey hey!

I know, I know...another dance post...I just can't get over how cute these girlies are in their little tutus! We've had a couple changes in dance class in the past couple of weeks. Destiny has a new teacher, but she misses her old teachers VERY much! However, she does love that the new teacher lets them dance with ribbons! Super fun!

Lining up! Or shall I say Queuing up?

Both of the girls dancing around...Destiny is in the pink tutu and Addi is in the purple.

A cute Destiny Story: After dance class, the teacher was handing some student's "letters" for the mommies and daddies. (They were actually bills for the class). Anyways, Destiny was really offended that she did not get one to hand to me. She came over to me and said, "Mommy, the teacher didn't give me a EMAIL." I looked at her with a confused look on my face. I saw the letters in the teacher's hand and told Destiny to go ask the teacher if there was one for her. She did and the teacher said that there was not a letter for her and explained that it is a good thing that she was not receiving a letter because it means we are all paid up! Destiny accepted that answer and now I need to teach her what a LETTER is! ha!

AddiSue

I walked in the girl's bedroom and saw this sight. Addi, wearing "reading" glasses while she reads a book. She was SO proud of herself. She would not take the glasses off for her nap. She woke up with indentations from the glasses on her face...oh the things I let my kids do! ha! Thanks to Mr. Potato head, Addi now thinks she needs glasses for reading!

The girls are at such a fun age and I just LOVE snapping shots of their lives to share with you on the blog. On this chilly morning, we are off to paint n' play at the park. It should be a nice morning to get some cool air on our faces and hopefully have a great nap time this afternoon :)

Enjoy today!

Can I touch one?

Hey Friends!





How are you doing? I am getting back into the swing of things after a good weekend. I am starting this week out tired so hopefully practicing some yoga this morning with my play group friends will help give me the energy I need to make it through the rest of the week!





Last Friday, the girls and I took a trip to visit some reptiles at the local reptile centre.





We were the first ones there and the girls were so excited. Destiny looked at me and said, "Can I touch one?" The nice lady working let Destiny touch a blue tongued lizard and Destiny thought that was fantastic!

The girls enjoyed looking for the creatures hiding in each tank. They also thought it was fun to see "Easter eggs" hidden within the tanks. Destiny told me that they must have forgotten Easter is over and that they are having a great Easter Egg hunt. :)

A few snakes laying on one another. One of these guys was very active and fun to watch as he climbed up the sides of the tank.

Hello, Mr. Snake.

The girls really enjoyed taking a peek at some of the reptiles that are native to Australia and I was surprised that Destiny was happy to touch one! It was a fun outing!

Here's Destiny, another day closer to turning 4. Yikes! Birthday plans are in the works :)

I'm ready to get my "om" on with a few of my friends! Relaxation, here I come!

Enjoy today!

Going WAAAY Back

Hey Folks,

We are time traveling...back to last Monday. Memorial Day. Remember it? So much has happened since, it's kind of hard to think back that far ;)

Matt and I went on a date on Monday. The girls hung out with Matt's boss's wife. They had a blast with her and Matt and I enjoyed some adult time at the War Memorial Museum.

Autumn and my hunk-a-lunk-a

Look in the lower right corner of this picture. It's a praying mantis. I love the way they walk! He greeted us upon our arrival to the memorial.

This is Anzac Parade and at the very end (the little triangle thing in the middle) is Parliament. Just below the triangle (the white building) is Old Parliament.

The lighting was difficult to work with, but this is two Japanese submarines that are pieced together. They were found in Sydney Harbor and had cause quite a commotion.

They had a nice collection of airplanes to look at. It was quite impressive.

In the WW1 exhibit, they had a stuffed camel! Seriously! You see something new every day :)

As we were leaving, an Aussie Army troop was practicing marching inside of the War Memorial.

It is a great museum and I am looking forward to a trip back there. We only made it through about half before we had to go get the girls to get them home in time for nap.

Proof that I was there :)

On our way out, this little guy hopped on over to say hello!

Enjoy today!

Party all Night!

Hey hey Everybody!

It's nearly 1 AM and I am still awake! (maybe it's the Zumba that I did earlier tonight that has my body still in party-mode!) I am having an ancestry party up in here! Matt decided to start looking up his family tree. He is not getting very far, but me on the other hand, I was able to trace back 9 generations on my father's side finding out that I am mostly Scottish (thought I was Irish!?!) and Norwegian on that side. I was also able to find a picture of the ship that my Mother's Father's side of the family came to the states from Russia on! Amazing!

This past week, the girls and I have had some unusual outings. We went to the library on a day there was no story time.

The girls enjoyed playing with the chairs. Some other kids set them up as an agility course!

Destiny with the beautiful artsy window.

Addi completing the agility course.

They have an amazing interactive soccer game displayed on the floor via projection. The girls loved running around and "kicking" the ball.

Here is Destiny's Birthday Chain. She is having fun counting down the days.

One morning I asked the girls if they wanted to go to paint n' play or try out a new park. They opted for the new park so we headed to a new suburb and played!

There were slides.

There were places to relax.

There were cockatoos.

There were fun bars to hang from...again..and...again...and...again! We had a blast!

Speaking of "a blast"...Matt and I had a date night, we headed out to a movie and chocolate bar for dinner. I had a waffle drizzled in chocolate served with strawberries, bananas and chocolate ice cream and Matt had crepes and a peanut butter chocolate milk shake! yum! Come here and I'll take you to meet the bald man who makes chocolate. (ok...maybe Max Brenner won't be there, but I'll at least take you to taste some of his yummy chocolate!)

That is prince charmin'! What a fun night!

Well, I'm off to bed {party pooper, I know!} It's Garage Sale time in the morning :)

Enjoy today!

I love a good walk.

Good morning, folks! How are ya doing? It's finally Friday here and the greatest news today is, I feel really normal (which I haven't been able to say for about a week).

I started this morning off with a run. I woke up just early enough to see the sun rise. It was glorious! It made me think of all the reasons I love living here! Sometimes I dwell on wanting so badly to see my friends and family in the states that I forget how much I truly love it right here in Oz.

Another thing I saw on my run this morning was kids running to the school bus. It brought back memories of the time that I commuted to Seattle each day for college. I would RUN to the ferry, RUN to the bus, RUN to class and sometimes RUN to catch a taxi. No wonder I was in such great shape!

Yesterday, the girls and I had a special day. We started the morning out at Questacon, the science center. Addi was struggling there because they shut down her favorite activity (the water station). So we headed out early to get in a walk around Lake Burley Griffin.

In front of us is the "chicken on the stick" where Matt works. (Destiny thinks he truly works inside the bird :)

The bell tower in all it's Autumn glory. It even played a lovely tune as we passed.

That is Questacon, such an interesting building.

The girls had blow pops, laffy taffy, and bubbles to blow along the walk. They received all of these things from their babysitter the night before and LOVED them!

Our walk ended and we headed home for lunch and nap time. It was a beautiful morning spent with two beautiful girls!

Each day of June, we are doing a count down until Destiny's b-day. She gets to rip off a link from her chain for every day. Here she is with one of the links.

Last night, Matt had a night out for work. I made myself the most wonderful concoction of a pizza ever. I sauteed mushrooms, eggplant, and red onions in Chardonnay, covered them with a bit of cheese and added some rosemary from my garden (I had to go outside with my flashlight to find it!). It was delicious! I love it when I create something that is so good!

Today we are on an adventure to see some reptiles. It should be a lovely time!

Enjoy today!