happy {belated} australia day...

We have had a wonderful Australia Day weekend. On Friday Jordan and my mum got up early and went into the city to see all of the ferries and other boats on the Harbour. Mackenzie and I stayed at home and slept in :oP Then we went down the coast to a friend's place for an Australia Day BBQ. Jordan had a ball swimming in their pool and playing with her friends. On Friday night, Mark and Lana called over to Mum's place. We had a really good tim just hanging out, talking about their wedding plans on Hamilton Island in March next year - can't wait! On Saturday we went over to Darran and Wendy's for lunch with James and Michelle and some other friends. We had the most scrumptious lunch - rice paper rolls then salmon on the BBQ....yummmmy. It was a lovely afternoon, apart from the usual half a dozen tantrums from Mackenzie. The girls and I came home last night and they went with Vic to visit his parents today while I cleaned the house (yuk). My housekeeper is in America on holiday....hurry home Margy...lol. So, all in all, it was a really nice weekend.

spot the difference...

Here's the thing. My two girls have such totally different personalities. As in, night and day. Jordan is so well-behaved when we go out, Mackenzie is totally wild. Jordan has never had a major tantrum in her life, Mackenzie throws one every five minutes (on a good day). Jordan is terrified of animals - you name it - our pet cat, any dog, she's afraid of it. Mackenzie on the other hand would pat a tiger. She has no fear whatsoever. Anyway, you get the idea. They are different. So here's a picture that kind of shows you what I mean. In this example, they are both "playing" with Jordan's dollhouse that she got for Christmas from Santa. See if you can spot the difference...

mini me part two...

So it's 7.30pm. It's bedtime. Mackenzie hasn't slept today because it was 37 degrees and her room was like an oven. Jordan is in bed reading a book. I go looking for Mackenzie to get her into her bed and here she is. Standing on her dressing table stool, playing the keyboard (without the sound on), singing into something that isn't the microphone, and what you can't see in the photo, staring at herself in the mirror the whole time. That's my girl :o)

mini me...

Here's my baby with her very first scrapbook page. Santa bought her a Disney Princess Scrapbook Kit with an album, paper, lots of pretty die-cuts and the most exciting thing - a glue stick! If there's one thing Jordan loves more than sticky tape it's a glue stick...lol. So she sat at her Dora desk and made this page all by herself. I wasn't allowed to look at it until she had finished. Not bad for a 3 year old, if you ask me.

summer wrap up...

Well our summer break is officially over. It was for me when I had to go back to work the day after New Year's, but for the kids their usual activities started back up today. It was the first day back at swimming and a momentous day for Mackenzie. She officially progressed to the "big girl's class" today which meant no more swimming for Poppy. He started taking Jordan in the "Mums and Bubs" class when I first went back to work when Jordan was around 8 months old. Jordan graduated from that class when she turned 2 and Poppy took over with Mackenzie immediately after. So he has been swimming with both the girls for almost 3 years now. He was a little sad to be "retired" from that now. Mackenzie had a ball in her new class. I didn't get to see her because I had to work but I'm looking forward to coming along in a few weeks time to see her and Jordan swim. They are both in the same class now so it is much more convenient for Mum and Dad.
Jordan goes back to Kindy tomorrow. Sadly, her favourite teacher, Miss Jasmine won't be there as she has moved on to another pre-school, so it will be interesting to see how she goes. Hopefully she will be fine and won't cry.
We are seriously looking into moving down to Bulli/Woonona way. I have been scouring the internet for houses for a few months now and have a pretty good idea of prices etc. I have to sell the unit and our house up here in order to do this, so it may take a little while. We are tossing up the idea of renting down there for a year and in turn, renting out our house up here just to be sure before we make it permanent. There is so much to consider, but I really think it's the best thing for the kids. They just love it when we stay at Mum and Dad's and for 3 weeks over the summer we have been able to spend time with my friends who all live down there and their kids. Between three of us (and partners), there are 5 girls - Amy 7, Gemma 4, Sophie 4, Jordan 3 and Mackenzie 2. They all play so well together and have such a great time. It would be amazing to see them all grow up together.
So, back to reality now. Hope all is well in your world.

the gifts just keep on coming...

Just when we thought Christmas was all over, Nanny comes up with another whizz bang present! She bought this car for Mackenzie several months ago, but wanted to wait until she was big enough to "drive" it herself. Drive it she does....like a maniac! Actually she prefers to be the passenger and she lets Jordan drive her around, and around, and around. They basically just do a great big circle and they go fast! This car has two forward gears as well as reverse. Fast and faster!!!