Photos

Rather than editing the last post, I thought that I'd just start a new one. Make myself look busier than I really am....hehe.
Here are some recent pics of the girls.

Bailey's reaction to daddy's singing - seriously. He was singing that Finger Eleven song "Paralyzer" with Ardyn, and this was what Bailey did. So happy to have the camera on hand.

This was a lazy Saturday a couple of weeks ago. The weather was adorable, so we headed down to Dee Why for lunch on the foreshore. This is one thing that I love about Sydney. The beach culture. I'm getting used to it.

This was the girls last weekend waiting for Cal to come home from going for a run. Maybe they thought that he wasn't going to make it back! Hehe. Too cute a photo opportunity to pass up though.

This is our new 'tradition' I guess you'd call it (for want of a better word). Ardyn is OBSESSED by the song 'Low' by Flo Rida, and every time it comes on, it doesn't matter what we're doing, we have to stop, get up and dance. This particular morning we were eating breakfast when we got up to dance. Which would explain why Bailey and I are still in our Jammies. Ardyn is actually dancing in the background, not just having a fit or something.

I have to give Cal credit for grabbing the camera and snapping some photos. I guess he doesn listen to my nagging sometimes.

And that's about it for now.
See you ....... whenever
xx

Blog it as I think if it.......

Things often happen in my life, just everyday things that might get my grey matter working, and I think "I should write about that in my Blog". And then I don't. And now I have nothing to say, as all the things that I wanted to say have gone, or are irrelevant now.

I should Blog them as they happen. Then maybe my life won't look so boring.

The pool has been closed.....the summer is over

Well Cal has turned off the solar heating and changed the timing of the filter, which marks the end of the swim season, the end of summer and the beginning of the cold and 'flu season.

The girls have been sick, and we have managed to catch their illnesses to a lesser degree. It all started when Bailey got quite a bad cold after a day with the Mother's Group, then it went to Ardyn, then me, and now Cal. But I have just found out that a couple of the kids in Mother's Group have developed bronchiolitis, so I am keeping a close eye on both of my babies. I hate this time of year. It brings out the mother in me.

It's been ages since I've posted, and so much has happened.

* in late February the Hall family came up to spend an extended weekend with us. It was wonderful to spend some quality time together.
* there have been a couple of trips to Bundalong, one being over Easter. That was great. All of the kids had a ball making their Easter baskets and searching for eggs in the yard. I love that weekend. The older they get, the more fun it is. I can't believe that next year there will be two more of them running around out there.
* Bailey is growing up. She is no longer an infant baby, and I find myself mourning my babies. This is the last one that I will have, so I know that every one of her "firsts" is another "last". It's bitter sweet. But she is going along nicely. She has been sitting up by herself for sometime, and just today started crawling. So watch out Ardyn, she's going to be into everything of yours wanting to play with you.
* Ardyn is such a little girl. I am learning as I go along, as I was never a girly girl. Playing dollies and tea parties is foreign territory for me. One thing I adore about that girl is her imagination. She makes up stories and reads books to herself and to Bailey, she plays games with her dolls creating intricate story lines, and she loves playing dress ups. Dancing, playing, all of it......she loves it. I love her.
* I have made a lot of new friends of late. And surprisingly they all know each through different ways. Small world. But it's nice to be a part of this little world. I am really beginning to settle (only took 3 years!).
* Part of the new friends is my wonderful craft group. Every Tuesday at the local Baptist Church they hold a craft and chat morning tea, including childcare. So I pop along with my cross stitch and have a coffee and a natter with the ladies of the church and my new friends. It's a great creative release as well as social release. I hate that it's school holidays at the moment and that it's not on. Can't wait until next week.
* We went down to Melbourne a couple of weekends ago, and went out for dinner on the Friday night. Somehow the Baylisses and us ended up traipsing all over town ended up at the casino and got home at about 4:30am. There is a reason why we don't do that anymore. I think that I'm still recovering.
* I have started reffing again. A month or so ago I was tossing up the idea of returning to work, first I was thinking about 2 or 3 days a week, then retail on Thursday nights and a day on weekends......then I thought...............if I am going to give a night and possibly a weekend day up, I may as well do something I love and keep fit doing it. So I contacted the local association and
jumped on court towards the end of last season. I was so nervous, but I was told it would be just like riding a bike, and it was. As soon as I got the first call out, it all kind of came back. I am enjoying it, but as the competition isn't all that great, I am now finding myself craving a higher level. Oh dear. I don't think that I'm ready to commit to something more professional. I know that I will be able to DO it, it's making the commitment to do it. It's different now with a family. If I choose to do it, I am basically deciding the weekend not only for me, but for my family too. I guess I'll think about it.
* Mum and dad are talking retirement. That's great for them, and what's even better is that they're looking at moving to Yarrawonga. We could handle that, although I would miss having them close by.I don't know how far away it is, but they are seriously considering it, so it can't be years........

And I think that I'm up to date.
I'll close off with some recent photos of my baby girls.

Canada was AWESOME!!!

We've been back for 2 weeks, but life has been its usual hectic self. I haven't managed to post anything. Just know that we had an AWESOME time and plan on going back in a few years. I think that Whistler may become a regular trip.

We have literally hundreds (perhaps thousands) of photos, and I can't find time to go through them, let alone pick out the good ones to post. Both Sue and I went absolutely snap-happy. We had the theory that as we are shooting digitally, we take photos of EVERYTHING. We both had a DSLR and compact with us which were with us ALL THE TIME. There are some VERY funny shots. One in particular which if I shared would lose Joffa as a friend forever I think - I wont' do that to you darling.

I have fallen in love with skiing and can't wait to do it again. For the first time in a long time (perhaps ever) I am looking forward to the ski season. I reckon I'll be crap again, but we'll just have to wait and see.

The floor was replaced while we were away, and I am rapt with the outcome. I will have to post before and after pics. We have decided on a wall colour (after 7 different shades of beige have been pock-marked around the room) and are currently getting quotes for blinds. It's all kind of coming together with the house.

I am happy with life. I have some extremely good friends who have been pretty much on call for me recently, and I appreciate them so much. It's such a shame that they don't live anywhere near me!!!! Bugger!!!

Speaking of good friends, we have the lovely Hall family coming to visit this weekend and I am really looking forward to spending some quality time with them. It's been too long between drinks (literally and figuratively).

I am actually looking forward to the start of the AFL season. I don't have a lot of hop for my beloved Tiges, but I am looking forward to following the league, chatting with friends about it, and generally doing something that I once loved. Perhaps go to some games even if I can't get to my team's. Make an effort to get to a Tiger game when in Melbourne........we'll have to see what eventuates.

The kids are great. Again, have been taking heaps of photos, and will need to sort through them to find some to post. Bailey is sitting up quite easily, although not getting into the position herself (understandably, she's only 6 months). She had her 6 month check and shots last week, and is TALL. She is about 78cm or something ridiculous. I was looking at some old photos of Ardyn from October 2005 (10 months) and Ardyn was wearing a top that Bailey wore last week!!! But she's about the same weight that Ardyn was at the same time - just under 9kg. Well it's official - Cal and I breed boofas. But this one is more of a skinny-mini. But one thing's for sure, size aside, she's going to be trouble. So cheeky. Such a little attitude. I can't wait to see hoe that develops.

Ardyn is growing up so fast. She's such a girl, no sign of a baby any more. She has an amazing imagination and is so creative. She is loving music and dance, and makes up stories out of nothing. So clever. She is very interested in reading, and is starting to learn what certain words look like, and that stems from memorising books that are read to her, and then asking us to point out the sords as she says them. Amazing! Well, it amazes me anyway.

And that's about it for now. I will have to go through all of these photos that I have taken of late and find a few to share. For now however, I will share one that I took last week, which shows how sweet Ardyn is, and how bloody cheeky Miss Bailey is.

Until next time.
K xx

If it was going to happen to anyone........

.........it was going ot happen to me.

Injury that is.

No surprise really. But I am surprised that it happened late in the trip rather than early.

I'm not too bad, I've just torn my left calf muscle slightly. It's still in tact and is on the bone. I am just thankful that it wasn't my knee like I first thought that I'd done.

I had a lesson yesterday in some of the WORST conditions that you could ever imagine. It was so windy, and we were only half way up the mountain. Visibility was poor, it was snowing, there was a powder layer of about 10-15cm.......and I was having a BALL!!!!! My confidence was increasing, I was doing things that I could never imagine that I could do, and I was going hard - and this probably led to my downfall.

We had been going fast and straight, learning to do 360s, skied a little bit of a black run (only a little bit, but I can at least say that I skied a black run at Whistler), pole turns, hockey stops, more speed - it was all good. Then as we were coming down a run the conditions got even worse. The wind had picked up, there were heaps of snow drifts, and it was really bumpy, choppy and heaps of powder. Really hard to ski in. So our instructor told us to take it easy while we went down that run, and to stay in his track marks as it makes it easier to ski.

I gained a bit of speed in a turn and directed my skis uphill to slow down as we had been taught. I was expecting to slide backwards so that I could then turn my skis back in to the turn (as you do) and continue with my group, but the back of my left ski got caught in a snow drift and I ended up going over backwards, hyperextending my leg.

I thought that I had done my knee, but later found out that it was my calf. And I am thankful as a knee or achilles (sp?) injury would have been much worse.

So, the ski patrol was called, and I was taken down the mountain on the back of a toboggan all wrapped up like a burrito and transferred into an ambulace at the bottom of the hill. That was a wild ride, and although I recommend doing it if you get the chance, I don't recommend getting hurt to do it. I cannot give enough praise to the ski patrol or the ambos, or my instructor Irwin for that matter. They were all fantastic! Quick, professional, and very nice.

I barely cried, I was swearing and hitting the snow moreso, until Cal arrived at the clinic. Then the tears came. Lots of tears. But the diagnosis was good, so we'll just deal with it. I am getting used to the crutches, and I am in a half splint for support, but I should be able to lose that in a few days. I have GREAT painkillers, and a shop of heparin that I have to give myself before we fly home to stop any clots forming. That will be fin giving that to myself, but Jeff has volunteered to stick it in my butt if I have any problems. The other 2 are no help. Ha!

So here I am , quite helpless. I can't carry Bailey, I can't even make myself a cuppa uless I drink it standing in the kitchen, and that's the part that I hate. I'm feeling really bad that Cal will have to deal with the 2 kids and all the luggage himself on the way home. I am going to call the airline to let them know that we may need some assistance. I'm hoping for an upgrade......hehe.

So that's what's been happening in our part of the world. I hope that everything is good in your part of the world.
K xx

Photos

Well I got our memory cards burnt to CD, and bugger me if this CD drive doesn't work! I can't catch a break!

You will just have to wait until we get home.

Warmer today

Well it was a whole 0 or -1 today, and BEAUTIFUL!!! I am so surprised at how much I am loving the cold weather. There's something to be said for ski gear and layers - they really do what they're meant to do.

We have been so busy, and all are pretty tired, but still having fun. The kids were knackered tonight.

Lachie spent all of last week in ski school, and did REALLY well. Sue and Joffa decided to give him a couple of days off, and I beleive that he's going straight back in tomorrow. He's such a little champ. As far as the other kids skiing, Ammie has caught the bug, much to Jeff's glee and Ardyn has turned off much to Cal's disappointment. Bugger! Oh well, she's only 3, there's still plenty of time.

I went out today and am feeling more and more comfortable each time I go out. I have had an attitude shift in so much as rather looking at a hill and saying "I can't do that" I say "Now how am I going to get down that?"

We are all booked in for lessons tomorrow and hopefully that will get me to an ever better comfort level. I have an extra one booked for Tuesday as well hoping that it will get me to a level where I wioll feel good about getting out at Hotham later in the year. The conditions are just so perfect here that I'm a little bit nervous about the shite that we will possibly have to face at Hotham. Oh well, time will tell. I've just got to get through the next couple of days first.

Over the last few days we have done some skiing, as well as taking the kids out, went to the Tube Park, on a horse-drawn sleigh ride and zip trekking. The kids are having a ball playing in the snow inthe backyard, having snowball fights and making snowmen.....it's just unfortunate that I still have no photos to share. We have plenty of video too, but again, can't share.

Sorry :(

The boys have their snowmobiling booked for Wednesday which I'm sure that they will enjoy (what an understatement). It involves a 3 hour guided tour of the mountains on snowmobiles - how hard for them to get out and do these things.

For Sue and I there is still plenty of retail to do here in Whistler and in Vancouver. We just have to find the time to do it. I think that we may run out here. Wednesday morning maybe - but then again.....who the hell knows.

So right now the kids are all tucked up in bed after a big day of skiing and playing and snowfights and snowmen. We took them out to dinner as well and then stayed in the village to see the Whistler Blackcomb "Fire and Ice" show where they set up a hill of snow on the village run and have all thier elite skier and snowboarding instructers perform awesome jumps and stuff. Then they light a ring of fire and they all do their stuff through that while all these fire dancers are performing around them. Then they puton a fireworks display. The kids loved it, but by the time we got hoem they were cold and (over) tired and there were tears and yelling and general mayhem until they all went to bed and crashed. Now it is very quiet. Jeff is checking his email, Sue is watchig TV and looking like she is about to fall asleep, Cal is snoring away on the couch and I am online trying to order gorceries from the online store that delivers them to your door (much easier than carrying them up the run). It's very quiet, and I have a feeling that tomorrow may be the same after we all spend the whole day skiing.

So that's it from us for now. Again, sorry about hte lask of photos. I will put a slide show on when I get back.

I'm off to bed. So I'll try to update again from Vancouver later in the week or something. But knowing me it won't be until we get home.

Love to you all. K xx

Oh Canada..........

Is f$#%*&@ cold!!!!!!!! I have never experienced negative temperatures until this week, and they weren't 'just' in the negatives, they were WAY down there. I think that it got to -16C the other night!

But.....
we are having a ball. We have had a nanny booked for the last few days, so we have all been able to get out and have a ski. The runs here are pretty easy for a hack like me. And there's even green runs right up the top of both of the mountains so you can still go up there and experience all Whistler has to offer. And powder as far as the eye could see today! I even managed to get a virgin run at about 11am a bit further up the mountain. That is unheard of in Australia. But then again there are about 150-odd runs over the 2 mountains here - THAT is unheard of in Australia.

We have all taken heaps of photos but I can't post them as the USB ports on this computer in our condo doesn't function, so you'll have to wait unitl I get home. Hehe.

Where to start??? We got to Canada last Wednesday after 14 hours in the air. The kids were wonderful. We couldn't have asked for any better. We got to our apartments in Vancouver and Jeff was waiting for us. He'd got in from Germany the night before. We spent a night there and were off to Whistler the next morning. Thursday and Friday were spent picking up gear, familiarising ourselves with the place and a bit of easy skiing. Then Saturday came around, and we all got into the spirit of Australia Day. I have never celebrated Jan 26 like that, I'm sure. I haven't drunk that much in a long time.

Sunday was spent recovering, playing in the snow with the kids, sleeping and generally just bumming around.

For Sue and I, Monday and today were lesson days. We both got heaps out of them. I managed to ski runs that I never dreamed that I would be able to. The boys spent the days discovering more of the mountains. My instructor today was saying that you could stay here for 50 days and never ski every run. And every day they're all different. It's amazing. It's HUGE!!! We'll definitely be back sometime in the future.

Ardyn has had a ski, and although she was having fun on Sunday with it, apparently today she wasn't so sure. Our condo development backs onto the Village Run that is quite tame, and Cal took her out there and took her right down the run to the village, and them up the gondola, and back down to where they started just near the condo. He says that she was a bit scared about it, but she'll get better. I can definitely relate. I was terrified when we first got here, but now I can't wait for later in the week when we'll go out again for another lesson.

There's just so much to tell, and so many photos to share (I wish I could). I can't do it all now. It's 12:30am, and I'm tuckered out. We have the nanny coming in tomorrow so that the guys can go skiing while Sue and I go shopping on our day off. How decadent huh??? Something that neither of us would ever dream of doing back home, but it has worked out really well here.

As we had so many dates booked for the time we are here, the agency has arranged for the one girl to be ours exclusively. So the kids get the same girl every time, and they just LOVE her. It makes it much easier to leave them.

And now I'm really tired. The last two days have really taken it out of me. We are planning a few different activities over the next few days. The boys are heading out on a Snowmobiling adventure, we will all go zip-trekking between the mountains (like a massive flying fox), and we want to take the kids on a horse-drawn sleigh ride.

I'm sure that when we finally get back to Australia we will all just crash for a few days. At least Cal doesn't have to go back to work straight away.

I'll try to update again in a few days. I am looking to get my photos burnt to a CD from my memory cards, as I am quickly running out of room. It's just too easy to take hundreds of photos here. It's just beautiful. If I do, I should be able to post a few.

Until then, take care.
K xx

Forgot to say..................

Bailey update - she's doing everything that she's meant to. Rolling around everywhere, talking heaps, teething and eating solids. And eating and eating and eating some more. She's a BIG girl. Not fat, but LONG. She's about 70-odd cms long and around 8kgs, which makes her the size of an average 8 month old. And not even 5 months. Bugger me! She's wearing some of the clothes that Ardyn was wearing when she was 7 months old.

All is good.
Life is good.
K xx

A long time between posts

Yeah yeah yeah Lisa. I'm updating okay?!?!?!?

Yes, it's been a couple of months, and yes, a lot has happened. So this will be long.

About me - my moods have been up and down over the last couple of months. With Christmas, and visiting friends in Melbourne and such....it can get a bit hard. And we've been really busy getting things finalised to go to Canada for 3 weeks as well as getting the house re-tiled while we're gone. So it's been all a g0-go in the De Forest house.

Since I last posted......
We have had Ardyn's 3rd birthday at the start of December. Where has my baby girl gone? She is such a kid now. So polite and reasonably well-behaved too. We are slowly getting her to stop the 3-yo sooking, but I am told by a few mums with older daughters that it's just a stage and that it will pass. I bloody hope so, I'm starting to get a bit annoyed with it all. But all-in-all, she's well.

We drove down to Melbourne for Christmas and as usual were busy busy busy. We had one day out of the 10 that we were there where we really didn't do anything. It was great to see all the family and friends, but it was so good to come home. On about day 9 Ardyn actually asked to come home ("To us home") because she 'missed Mummy's home'. Too cute. But it shows how these trips take a toll on the kids. I feel sorry dragging them around sometimes, but it has to be done I guess. I just WISH that they could celebrate Christmas in their own house just once before Santa disappears from their lives.

While we were in Melbourne my brother and his wife gave birth (well, Samantha did anyway) to a very little baby girl named Amelia Elizabeth Henrietta. She was the most adorable little thing who barely fit into a 0000 romper. She was just under 3kgs when born, and it was strange to hold such a tiny thing. My boofas were 3.87kg and 4.38kg....eek!

For New Year's Eve we headed down to Cal's parent's holiday house in Phillip Island with 3 other families. Bloody Hell it was HOT!!! Normally down there is would be beautiful sitting on the elevated deck with sea breezes, but not on December 31. There was NO BREEZE whatsoever, and of course there's no air conditioning. And then the power went out for 8 hours. We made our way around the house by the light of our mobile phones - ha! The fridge had just been moved into the kitchen that morning after being transported from Melbourne, so it really hadn't had a chance to get really cold, so by the morning, most of the contents had to be thrown out.

The a couple of days later we made the long drive back to Sydney.

The New Year has been good to us I guess. No dramas to speak of, we've just been looking forward to going on our skiing holiday and getting the floors done. I've been having a good time meeting up with my Mother's Group regularly, and we caught up as a group today so that the husbands could meet. It went pretty well. Cal seemed to get along with a few of them really well. I'm glad that we might be able to get together with a few of them on separate occasions.

These ladies are a Godsend to me. I look forward to seeing them every week, and have created a really good bond with a few of them. It'll be good for Bailey to grow up with these kids. It's something that Ardyn missed out on with the move north. Although we still try to catch up with Gabriel and Francesca (and now Beth) whenever we are in Melbourne.

Bailey has started attending daycare 1 day a week so that Ardyn can continue to do the things that we had to drop when Bailey was born, like music and swimming. As that all doesn't start until after we come back from Canada, we have been doing other stuff for the last few weeks. We've been calling them "Ardyn's Day of Fun". Last week we went and saw a stage show of Cinderella, the week before that we spent the day at Lollipops, and this week I think that I'll take her to see "Bee Movie". I have some free tickets, so they have to be used.

And Ardyn is back at daycare too. She loves it, and can't wait to go. She begs me to take her on days that she's not enrolled to attend. I don't think that we'll have any issues getting her to go to school - at least in the early years.

Speaking of school, I was accepted into Uni (again) to study a Bachelor of Nursing. I have decided to defer for 12 months until Bailey is a little bit older. Plus the days that I would have classes are on days that the kids aren't in care, and it's really hard to change days. So next year I'll go back part time and hopefully make a real go of it.

What else has been happening?? Let's see......oh, we have booked a week in Noosa in November with the Virgonas. I really missed our week away with them in 2007, and am already looking forward to it. I love going on holidays with them.

The Hall's are coming up to visit at the end of February, so it will be good to spend some quality time with them.

I am trying to find a scrapping retreat to get away to, so if anyone has any ideas for good ones, let me know.
So that would mean that I am scrapping again. I've done a couple of pages, a mini album and some ATCs in the last week. Cool! I'm feeling good about it, and want to keep it going. I'll have PLENTY of pics from Canada, so I have to keep motivated.

And that's about it. It's a bit disorganised, I bit disjointed, but that's the last couple of months in a nutshell. I'll try to get some photos up a bit later.

Until then.
K xx