Day 244 - Masks

Since moving Maddie up into an older kids class at Kinder-gym she has had a huge fondness for the props used. Her masks finally arrived today and after she and I tried on every single one, (we bought a pack of 12) I thought they could be put aside, but then she had to have Nathan try on all of them too. I think he was really getting into the character of a bear in this shot. Now I should go look for the ribbons and batons that Kinder-Gym had today, Maddie loved them.

Day 243 - First Time's

 

So I am not sure if I am proud or shocked that I managed to beat Simon at Metal in song pop. Also seeing that I am winning this weeks tournament is very exciting. I don't expect that it will last long, so maybe I should stop playing while I am ahead. This game is so addictive!

Day 242 - Crazy Afternoon Shopping

 

After dropping Maddie at Karyn's and spending an hour in the office, I attempted to race out to Majura Park to catch Leah while she was at Costco. When you are in a hurry very little goes right though, first I was stuck in the driveway for 10 minutes while some customer chatted leaving his car parked in the driveway so no one could get in or out. Then I needed fuel, and realised that my EFT card had expired so I had to race home and get the new one. Luckily I had cash on me to cover the Petrol! Then at Costco they wouldn't allow me to use my card, so I went to their ATM and discovered that it was broken. Very Frustrating, luckily Leah was on hand to save the day so Mum scored Mickey and Minnie.



Day 241 - Experimental Cooking

 

Tonight I tried cooking plain salmon in the sandwich press, which Leah had recommended many times. I have to say it smelt much more like fish than I liked, but it was tasty. Next time I will have to take it out of the press sooner though, as it was a little dry. 

Day 240 - Impromptu Play

Another day of searching for pricing details and information for the extension. I'm exhausted, and I suspect Maddie may be a little over it all. Unfortunately today the customer service was dreadful which made it very unmotivating, but it still dropped our prices by a little bit. While we were at the last plaster shop we saw a message from Claire asking us to meet for a play in the park. Maddie loved it, Hugh likes to chase, and Maddie loves to be chased so it works well. The kids are so cute together these days as they learn to play with each other differently.

Day 239 - Mackenzie's Christening

Church today for us as we went to Mackenzie's christening. I suppose Maddie did pretty well for being in a quiet environment for an hour and a bit, but gosh I found it quite stressful. Foolishly I thought it would be OK not to take the nappy bag in with us, with the snacks and entertainment. Well what a dumb mistake that was to make! Luckily we were there with Leah who is always prepared with loads of entertainment, I swear she must have a Mary Poppins bag.

The ceremony was lovely and not a peep from miss Mackenzie when she was christened which was impressive, then the kids were able to run free outside around a tree before went to the reception at a cafe at the wetlands. Hunter is watching the girls run around and play, the photo was taken just before he escaped.

Another milestone happened today, we looked after Grace for an hour while Leah popped down to get some groceries. I was pretty excited, and the two were easy to look after, as they play so well together, they keep each other occupied. I just wish that Maddie would pass the crash tackle phase soon, as I am sure does Grace.

Day 238 - Nanna and Auntie Jo Come To Visit

Today Gail popped in with Nathan's Auntie Jo. They bought presents for a very spoilt Maddie, who after being initially very shy, was super chatty and fairly cuddly with them. They went to spend the night on Drew's farm tonight, and will be back to spend the night with us tomorrow. I think Maddie is looking forward to it as she has been talking about Nannie and Jo a bit this afternoon. I wish we could convince her to say auntie, but the only time she does, she whispers it, and its about Amy.

Day 237 - Puppy Games

Maddie has learnt to pretend to be a puppy recently and loves it when we crawl around with her. I cant say its been great for my back, but we have had some fun. This was taken when she should be getting ready to go to bed, instead she was playing naughty puppy and crawling away giggling with Nathan following behind. It really is very cute.

Day 236 - Shopping = Torture

To submit the house plans we need to include a costing budget on everything for the extension, which means a lot of shopping around. I despise shopping so this is proving torturous for me, and I suspect Maddie is feeling the same way. After over an hour at Bunning's getting surprisingly good customer service we went to Masters. Maddie loved the car trolleys and stayed in one for an hour and a half while we achieved nothing. Bunning's was the definite winner in customer service today. I know, I just said that, Bunning's customer service being good, definitely not something you experience often.

Day 235 - Chatterbox

Miss Maddie loves talking on the phone, especially when there is someone on the other end. Today while I was talking to Mum Maddie asked for the phone. Upon getting it, she proceeded to run into any room that I wasn't in for some privacy. I have watched her play with her pretend phone at M&G and take her 'call' into the office as well, it is just hilarious that she thinks to do that already. I think we will have trouble getting her off the phone when she is older

Day 234 - Plans

Architect plans complete, CHECK!!! OHMIGOSH they are here. I am switching between super excited and absolutely terrified that we are so far out of our depths now. Tomorrow's plans are to choose a structural engineer and get the ball rolling through the next step of pre-extending planning. Once that is done, I need to complete an approximate cost of works, and then submit to council. I suspect the next few days will involve a lot of time on the phone. Yes my photo is a screen shot of 2 pages of the plans, I am so excited right now.

Day 233 - Play Play Play

This morning Maddie and I joined Leah and Grace at Monkey Mania for a play. Maddie loved the jumping castle, but seemed to love the slide a lot more today, getting way too confident and climbing up into the big kids play area and coming down on her own. Leah taught her to go down backwards so that slowed her down a bit, and stopped her from flying off the end of the slide. I do think that the slides go way too fast, not that I let that stop me from having a second go.

Then this afternoon after she was pretty good while I did the groceries we ventured to the cool park in Letchworth for a play. There Maddie watched planes, went backwards down the slide, played ball with Grace and learnt to roll down a hill. Maddie didn't roll around a huge amount as a baby, but today once I showed her how to roll down a hill, she just wanted to keep going. It is awesome watching her have fun and progress so much in her climbing skills.

At the moment Maddie absolutely loves the skirt that she is wearing, but as you can see, it doesn't match well with sliding. I love how she tells me to put it on her when she finds it in the folding pile, and today was so much easier to dress as it was an option.

The picture with the big keyboard mat is taken by Leah, and shows Maddie dancing, I hope she doesn't learn to dance like Nathan, but this picture sure looks like she will.

Day 232 - Happy Places

The Bredbo Christmas barn must be one of the happiest places on earth, it's festive tunes, spectacular decorations and friendly team have always made it a happy place for me to visit. Since falling pregnant with Maddie we haven't ventured out there so the extensions and new products were very exciting for me to see. The shop is laid out a lot better now so I will be able to visit with a pram, even though Maddie did surprisingly well today just walking in the shop, I so don't trust her on my own walking around. I only purchased 5 decorations today and one candle as I just couldn't decide what I wanted. Nathan said that we can have a new tree, so I was shocked that out of all the squillions of decorations in there, that I couldn't choose more than the 5 that came home with me.  I cant wait to go back out there for another look.

Day 231 - Snow

Nathan, Maddie, Leah, Simon, Grace and I headed to Mt Selwyn to check out the snow. It was so cold out there until we went on the toboggans and had to walk back up the hill. Maddie loved the ride down the hill, giggling all the way down, but I thought it was way too fast and was terrified I would flip the toboggan like so many other people were. The girls lasted until 2pm before they really needed a sleep and did such a good job with all their extra bits of clothing. Maddie couldn't wear her gloves while eating the snow though, her little hands must have been so cold. We had quite a few snowball fights and I had a few trips and a little shove from Nathan. Fortunately Nathan also went splat which was entertaining for me and gave us a good chance to throw snow all over him! Snow in the ear is very cold and uncomfortable, and impossible to avoid when everyone is throwing or flicking snow at you.

Day 230 - Kinder gym

Maddie reached another little milestone in growing up today, moving into the next level class in Kinder-Gym. She seemed so little and young in the class, as most of the other kids were much closer to 3, if not 4 or 5. The extra structure seemed good, and with time, and me sleeping we should learn to sit still in group time and participate a bit better. Maddie loved wearing the masks, and ran around pretending to fly when she had the butterfly mask on. Now I am spending my spare time looking for masks and costumes for dress ups on line. 

Day 229 - Hunter's Birthday

This morning we went to visit Hunter for his birthday, and to have a little play. Maddie loved patting the lizard, which looked way too spiky and lizard like for me, but was surprisingly friendly. Hunter's finger is so close to the Lizards mouth that it may as well have been in it. I love the look on his face in this one, its like he knows a good joke. Hunter was a little shy when we all sung to him, but he did wonderfully blowing out his candles. So clever!

Day 228 - Bargain

As I am not a fan of shopping I often rely on others to tell me about great sales and bargains, but today I found one myself. I ducked into Payless Shoes to see if they had any new little white shoes for Maddie that are suitable for the spring weather, as she is growing out of hers way too quickly. I picked up the little white ones and when they were scanned at the register they were only $5. The lovely lady then found the pink ones that were also $5 for summer. I'm not a huge fan of the pink ones, but for $5 I just couldn't pass them up, especially as Maddie seems to have inherited my affection for shoes.

Day 227 - No You Can Not Cook

Tonight Maddie wanted to help me turn the capsicum with the tongs while the pan was on the stove. As you can see she was not happy with being told no. Tantrums sure are escalating these days and it is getting very hard to keep a straight face. Maddie threw the tongs and screamed and eventually managed to squeeze out a couple of tears. Two year old's are such fun most of the time, but these tantrums are getting to be way too frequent.

Day 226 - Exaggerations

 

Apparently Nathan was never taught to shave properly, or more likely he was too busy and therefor cut himself a couple of times. To make it seem worse he decided to add blood to other place on his face, take a photo and send it to the Morgan's saying that I attacked him. Luckily they know better, I think.
Apparently Simon was bored later and decided to do some photo shopping. The long brown hair suits Nathan quite well, but marrying Jennifer Love Hewitt is an ever better look..

Day 225 - Masters

We finally made it out to Master's to see what kind of competition they actually are. Wow is all that I could say when we first walked in. The store was immaculately presented and there were staff actually asking if we needed a hand with anything. The prices were a little bit lower than Bunning's on the few things that we could compare, but for extensions and home renovations Masters sure wins the competition on the place to go, they seem to have everything.



Day 224 - Birds And Progress

If Nathan wasn't already feeling bad enough I am sure that he is now. After working all morning he came home to cut up the pine tree so that he could take it to the tip, and found these birds whose home was lost sitting in the bird feeder with their nest. Unfortunately they had nested in the middle of the tree quite high up so we didn't know we were disturbing them. Fortunately it was before they had laid any eggs, but these guys sure did hang around and it was so sad to see.

Two loads of trees went to the green waste place today, and I can not believe how much tidier the yard is looking, unfortunately there is more to go before we can start on the house, but we sure have made some progress. I even got to use the chainsaw, which was about the only time that I didn't hurt myself today.

Day 223 - Oh What A Feeling

This morning we went to have a play date at the Morgans with Claire and Hugh. Maddie and Grace played so well together and I am sure Hugh would have too if Leah hadn't of given him a bin on wheels of his own. I wonder if Claire will ever forgive her for that gift. The girls had a great time on the trampoline, I think we might need to get Maddie one soon.

Day 222 - Where did Maddie go?

Today my well behaved quiet little girl must have packed up and left home, as that was certainly not who we had here today. Maddie had at least 10 tantrums while we were at Kinder-gym, which only goes for 40 minutes, maybe it was because it is so impossibly cold here today. I don't think the whole of this winter has been even close to how cold it felt tonight while we were walking out of the club after schnitzel night. At least tonight Maddie went straight to sleep for us, which she definitely did not do for her day nap today. She looks so sweet and innocent when she is asleep.

Day 221 - Starting Early

Today when I dropped Maddie off, for Karyn to watch her for a few hours, Maddie was put to work. She seemed super attached to Rikki after she shared a strawberry with her and proceeded to follow her around for ages. It was so cute watching her stack the shelves. She loved it!

Day 220 - Little Miss Post It

First thing this morning, while I was still groggy Maddie went into the study and grabbed my post it notes. It wasn't until I was awake properly that I realised that she had been quiet for a few minutes. So, while sipping my morning mocha I went in hunt of Maddie, following a trail of brightly coloured post it notes through the dining room and lounge room. I found her at the front door, where she was busy sticking them everywhere as fast as she possible could. As she ran to me excitedly to show me her 'art,' she stood on one of the ones she had scattered everywhere, so after getting me to the door she sat down and told the post it note off. It was way too early for what was very close to a tantrum when she discovered that the one that had been stuck to her foot, would not stick to the door.

Day 219 - Getting What I Want

Nathan and Drew finished work early today, to cut down the pine tree that was dropping mess all over the paver's. The tree took quite a lot to pull down after Drew cut a lot of wedges out of it, and it was super scary when it did finally fall, as the tree was bigger than I realised. Unfortunately we robbed a couple of pigeons of a home that had nested quite high up. Hopefully they didn't have eggs or babies, we already feel bad for the cranky birds. I can't believe how much it opened up the yard.. Unfortunately Nathan got a bit excited by the chainsaw and chopped into the only tree I like in our back yard. I hope it grows back

Day 218 - Assistance

Today after a trip to Belconnen mall to visit the Apple store that was rumoured to have opened, (complete fiction) in order to get a quote for my phone repair, we went to visit Dad and Amy. They spend every weekend working on Amy's Datsun "Leroy" and have made some impressive progress. Maddie loved playing in it, and supervising the work being done today. I love this picture of her helping Dad look at the engine..

Day 217 - Goals

Today I was so productive! By 830 am I had sorted through Maddie's wardrobe, and put a bag full of clothes away and, put another aside to palm off onto Cass. Eventually I also managed to empty out the cupboard in the spare room, accomplishing the impossible by finding a home for everything. Nathan gutted the cupboard this afternoon, so now we have to contemplate how we rebuild it into the use able wardrobe that I designed. I am terrified about how we are going to find a home for all of the other mess in this room when the renovations actually start. If they ever start.

Day 216 - Car Maintenance

Nathan has an addiction to using the window washers and our cars are often out of washer water. So to freak him out a little I messaged asking how to open the bonnet. Admittedly I did need the help as I couldn't get the front latchy thing to let the bonnet come up, but by the time he replied to leave it and he would do it for me I had already finished.

Day 215 - My Nanna Visits

Nanna popped down for a few hours today to see Maddie for her birthday. Maddie loved her new pair of shoes, but pretty much ignored everything else in her present. The photo is of Maddie taking them to Nanna to help her try them on.

Maddie was playing with playdough again today, and made herself a toy phone, which she talks to then says bye and pretends to press a button on it, it is so cute. I love this age

Day 214 - Gold Medal

Swimming lessons today, although I'm not convinced either of us should have been there. Today's theme was the Olympics and after lessons finished the national anthem played while the kids were awarded medals on a platform. I wish my phone took better pictures it was so cute.

Day 213 - Playdough

With Maddie sick we had a very quiet, but insanely messy day. We played with Maddie's magic texta's, and by we, I mean Maddie while I sorted out lunch. Wow was that a bad idea, I came back to a lounge room covered in texta, which is hard to get out of the carpet. Then after a super fast nap I pulled out the Playdoh table that the Morgan's gave Maddie so that I could fold the washing. Maddie is so cuddly when she is tired and sick, which I do love, but it makes it so hard to get anything done.

Day 212 - Uncles

Today both of Maddie's Uncles popped in to see her for her birthday. Maddie came down sick today, with what I hope it a reaction to the flight or just a cold, but she looks pretty terrible in this photo, and I cant keep up with her nose. Drew is reading one of the books he got her for her birthday, one of them is recordable, which might get Nathan off the hook sometimes. Adam also popped in with some books for Maddie too, but Maddie was too shy to go to him for a cuddle or play.

Day 211 - Maddie's Birthday

Today is Maddie's 2nd birthday, and none of us have had enough sleep! Last night Nathan and I blew up loads of balloons for Maddie's room for her to wake up to. Unfortunately she woke at 1, and I am not convinced that she went back to sleep. Maddie and I curled up on the futon for hours and at 630 I gave in and put her in her cot, so that I could pretend she was waking up to the balloons.
Maddie was pretty excited all day by all her visitors and for most part the presents, though I think by this afternoon she was a little over unwrapping them. Luckily Hunter Grace and James were here to help. We threw a little party for her which she seemed to love, especially when her 3 kid band was in action. I walked into the bedroom to find Hunter on the drums, Grace on the keyboard and Maddie singing.. Yep it was noisy!

Day 210 - Carousel

We spent the day in Sydney today, catching Trains and the monorail to get to Paddy's markets without a stroller. Once we were at Paddy's we searched high and low and found only one which is terrible and cost $50. I swear it is the worst stroller in history!

On the way home we visited Auntie Nic and Uncle Gary, who Maddie adored playing with. Maddie played chasie's until she was too tired to play any more so we headed home, finally arriving a bit after 11. Now to blow up some balloons for Maddie to wake up with tomorrow.

This photo was obviously not taken by me, Nathan did the honours as I think he felt he would be queasy on the ride.

Day 209 - Strange Sight

So this is a sight that I never in a million years thought that I would see. Maddie was playing in her cot this morning so that Nathan could read my book. Yep Nathan is reading, its so strange and totally awesome that he is doing something that I love doing so much. I wonder how long it will take him to finish the book so that I can read it.

We flew back into Sydney tonight, and I hadn't booked a room which proved an adventure. The Menzies had the most awesome and bizarre car park ever, which we totally got lost in, but the room, while small, was so blissfully quiet.