It's been a bit wet around here....

Even the young fella had to play Hockey in the rain on the long weekend.....





We sent Regan on a Girl Guide camp to a property in Waughope (sorry I know thats not how it is spelt) for the long weekend.... the girls did so well in the horrible conditions ... we spent all day Sat waiting for the phone call to say they were coming home but it didn't come till Sun night when they were evacuated.... they had to leave camp by foot and all their tents/ stretchers etc are still up there.... It was quite the adventure - 16 girls in tents cooking over open fires with pit toilets and only one bath.... they can now deal with anything....

While she was away we tried to surprise her by turning her bedroom from this...



to this......
we had told her she was going to get her room redone for her birthday but this was the only opportunity we would have to do it as a surprise





The colours are (I think) brilliant - Taubmans Kanimbla Blue for most of the walls and Sea Isle for the alcove around her bed.... she also got a new desk and bed in a gloss white .... very grown up...

and as for the latest on the dogs....



how could you not forgive this face.....



We had rung Steve last week and told him that we couldn't look after him as we were worried he would transfer his guinea pig obsession to the chooks ..... but after behaving himself sooo well all week and after much persuasion on mine and the kids part Shane has relented (it wasn't very hard - he's just as soft as me)and we made a last minute call to see if it wasn't too late to keep looking after him... He has promised to keep getting on with Koda and not to eat any other member of the family....

Say bye to Hades

I'll leave it up to your imagination......

Say Hi to Hades

What a good looking guy eh.... yes he is the latest edition to our clan, a beautiful, rather large pure bred (our first ever non mutt) German Shepard called Hades.... Hades being the Greek God of Death and he being so named because of his black face... He did belong to a mate of ours (he has also appeared here before) but unfortunately they have to move to the coast and can no longer look after him....





He is fitting in quite well so far ... Toddy knows he is the boss so isn't really bothered by him however Koda has a bit of small dog syndrome happening and is trying to show Hades who's in charge..... at the moment I think he might win... he is smaller and younger but as menacing as he looks Hades just wants someone to play with...



Other than that we have had a great week here in not so sunny Taree

- both Regans and Aarons choirs won their age group at the Eisteddfod and therefore they got to go in the major concert
- Regan was chosen (one of only four in the school) for a gifted and talented drama day being held in Wingham tomorrow
- Aaron was mentioned in the paper for great defence in last weeks Hockey day, and
- Regans photo was in the same paper for the choir






Aaron is getting better on the motorbike, his balance is nearly there and Shane is finding it harder and harder to keep up with him as he tears around the backyard.

How cute is my daughter, caught her last weekend catching up on her reading under 'her' tree in the backyard.... as gorgeous as it looks it didn't last long ... she's not one to stick to an activity for very long without getting bored.



and last but not least it was mum's b'day last week - or was that the week before.... anyway I sent her this card ... it's one I copied from one Kim Watson published in Creating Keepsakes.... but why wouldn't I, it's soooo cute...

Speeches, mud and love

Regan and some of her friends entered the Taree Eisteddfod for Public Speaking on Sat... so very proud... she worked on her speech for weeks and did very well achieving a encouragement award ... it was all so close with only four points separating her from 1st place..





Mark and his boys popped in on Wed night on their way back home from Brissy, Their pop has given them this old Torana (god I hope that was what it was - sorry if I got the model/make wrong) and they were on a bit of a boys road trip - Great to see them all again....

Check out the muddy sink hole the kids managed to find down the back .... hours of entertainment with a good old mud fight...









I suppose it's way too late now but happy mothers day to all..... we had a great doing nothing day at home....







So which one do you think?



We think we've decided on the bottom one all round and then top right for the alcove around the bedhead..... Denise picked up these materials for her new quilt.... nice. There is a green and lemon set to go in there too.



and yeah I've finished off the LO for Aarons b'day



Til later Leah

Has it been that long again..

I seem to be forever updating this thing.... one day I will catch up and stay there....

Soooo here we go...

The kids marched for Anzac day again this year.... so much to be thankful for.







Of course Easter was thrown in there as well, and this year we decided to dye our own eggs... how cute did they end up?



and on Easter Sunday we headed off to Sydney to see the Titans V Parramatta (both the kids teams so there was going to be tears either way) The Titans were winning all game, right up to the last 26 seconds when Parra converted a try to win.... the crowd was ecstatic - apparently it has been a long time between wins.





He's not actually cheering with them, he has his fingers in his ears.
Can you pick the odd one out?



Shane has spent countless hours in his shed turning it from this...



to this.... not a bad effort I think...



He even let me have the left over peg board ..... will now be finding lots of things to hang.... (for those of you that are looking at this picture and saying to yourself that you thought that the no walls or flooring thing was only temporary over two years ago .... I'm hearing you ... no point rushing into things... right?)



Check out what I found while playing around in my shed.... an unfinished project from 2007 that I had totally forgotten about... all my diary notes are still there along with the photos - guess I'll be trying to finish this in my spare time...



We finished off our holidays with a game of backyard cricket ...... pity we couldn't get rid of the obstacles....





Till next time......

Not all nail artists are the same....

Regan got her nails painted by one of the cheap nail studios for chrissy and they did a fantastic job of these little trees so we thought we might go back for some easter designs. Unfortunantly the girls we used last time were closed so we went to the other studio.... and the result....



not quite as impressive.....

It has been raining here for god knows how long now and the backyard is full of these very large mushrooms....



Guess who finally got her gee/ ghi/ gi .... not sure how to spell it but none the less she is very proud of it...



We let the turtles out on the weekend while Shane cleaned the tank... Mac spent the whole time trying desperately to get outside ( I will have to build a cage for them outside, they are still pretty small and I'm scared a kookaburra will swoop and get them.)



While DT was happy just playing ball.




The kids also got into some puffy painting which I found on Susans blog here. Heaps of fun with a few basic ingredients.





and Ive completed some pages....





Have a great easter...