Uniforms & Paint

This morning we went and bought Natalie her first School uniform! While we were there we also met her teacher (Miss Schwidder) and saw her class room. It was very strange seeing lots of older kids (it's a R-2 class) and a bit sad that there was no one from kindy in that class, but Natalie is still happily excited which is good.
And the photo of Calvin is just to prove that he is still here. Since he is not having arvo sleeps now mummy had to come up with some afternoon entertainment, so today was painting.

Dunno what it is but I'm loving it!

For some strange reason, on Saturday Jacob didn't wake up until 9am!!! (This is after consistently waking at 6 or earlier for a few months). Since then he hasn't been up before 7 - 7:30 which is wonderful! The only thing we can think of that may have caused this, is his new Colin poster he has on his wall... He sometimes gets a bit funny about walking out of his room past the poster and says 'Colin hurt'! so he may be thinking the poster may fall down and hit him, or he may be remembering when he got donked on the head with a big beach ball at the concert last week. Or it may be not related at all. If we knew it would be that simple we would have stuck a poster up ages ago! Sam's been pretty good too, didn't need a feed til after 6:30 this morning, then after a little play went back to sleep til 10:30! Makes up for yesterday when he didn't sleep more than 50 minutes at a time... Ahh well can't really complain when we have such good nights!

Term 3 Kindy Pictures

Today I collected the disc of all of the kindy photos from last term. It included photos of Natalie with the fire brigade and ambulance officers. It was a very busy term at kindy and there are more photos on the Cozens blog.

had another think ...

We completed the inventory form and Dad will lodge it electronically! But in the process the very clever thing calculated that we're going to need 66 cubic metres of space in the truck (for everything, furniture and all)! Then Dad had another think and we worked out that the size of their "boxes" is more like tea chest size, and we'd calculated on smaller ones - the size of 6 cartons of orange juice! So we went through again and revised (down!) our "guess-timate"! I sure wouldn't want to put books or fabric in tea chest size boxes ... but i guess they've got trolleys and things! And hopefully will send some smaller boxes too .... previously they've delivered the boxes for us to use, so i spose they will again this time! And so this particualr saga continues, as I'm sure it will for another couple of months! Bye! XX

9 Cowan Ave Victor Harbor

Some photos should be shared

Well we've been n gone n done it!

Well, we've started packing!! After lunch today Dad packed 5 boxes with the diaries, books, letters, slides etc we brought home from Granny n Grampa's before our holiday! So it's kinda funny .... we've got 5 boxes already - and haven't packed anything of "ours"! Dad also removed the wadding he stapled on the lounge wall 2 years ago as his design wall (that's never been used for designing, just for Tiger-clawing and bug hatching!) and we're stacking boxes along that wall as they're packed! Yesterday we completed the Inventory forms, stating how many of what pieces of furniture, and how many boxes .... well, how long is a piece of string??! We guess-timated 216, which is 27 cubic metres of space .... guess we'll find out in a couple of months how accurate or otherwise we've been! I've given Dad the Plan, Debbie and he'll see if he can scan it and Blog it ... we'll see how he goes! My very rough pencil sketch was actually quite accurate, so I did well! I think my next job is to go thro the Inventory form that Dad's about to email me, fill in our numbers and email it back to Allied Pickfords! So it all really is happening .... only 10 more services here for me (8 for Dad), and the last one will be Christmas morning ... that will be a bit strange - a bit of an anti-climax, probably! Anyway, hope you're all well, n not too busy! Enjoy school, Stu and Michael! Love you all Mum/Nanna

Some pics of Granny and Grandpa

We stopped off at Crystal Brook on our way home Thursday. Granny and Granpa seemed pretty good. Granpa is really deaf, and it's very hard to talk to him - it would almost be easier to have some paper there to write stuff down when he can't hear what you say - and he doesn't like being treated like a baby. Granny was very chirpy and happy, though.

Thought we'd share some of the photos.

trying again

Michael's been busy

While Michael has been having a holday with us he has been making some Lego things. here they are: (Well, they would be if Blogger woud do something when I click on the add image icon!)

Colin Rocked.

We went to see Colin Buchanan yesterday morning and it was GREAT! We went with Aunty Heth and Jacob and Sam (and Aunty Luci B pretended to be Uncle Al!). It was a shame that Al had uni, but it was lovely to be able to go with Heth and Jacob again, and Sam (and Luci) for the first time. Thanks guys.
We also met up with the Stott family, so Natalie was able to enjoy the concert with her friend Hayden and Calvin with his friend Hannah. We all thought Colin was very funny and Calvin liked the toy dinosaur he had on stage with him at one point. Funnily enough, both kids liked it when we sang Isaiah 53:6 (Baa baa do baa baa) while Colin was back stage changing!!! It ended with a bang, lots of streamers and big beach balls to hit around and the kids really got into the danving at that point. After the show I didn't make the same mistake as last year and made a B-line for the merchandise table, got my poster and DVD and got straight in the line to meet Colin (we stood in line 1 1/2 hours last year! Only 10 mins this year :)
It was lovely meeting Colin again and now Calvin has another signed poster for his wall and Natalie a signed DVD (which says Happy Birthday from Colin on it). The kids are watching the DVD now and it is a lot better than I was expecting, including the CSI (Christmas Investigation Squad), Dancing with the dummies contest and an Ali G looking rap! Fun.

I'd be interested to know what Jacob is thinking! Or Natalie for that matter!

Thank you Nanna and Grandpa

I have just written a rather large blog on the Cozens site, so sorry I've run out of energy to put one here also. I will say though that it was lovely to go and holiday with Nanna and Grandpa up the river for the last time (can hardly believe that next time will be in Victor - very exciting). It was lovely to play games, eat and and generally just relax (the sleep-ins were great too, thanks).
Thank you for having us. I hope that Michael will enjoy his holiday there this coming week.

Duck and other things...

This is us at our picnic at the Botanical Gardens last week. We'd been planning to go there for ages (well I was) so took advantage of Al's uni hols and the nice weather. Was a very lovely day!

Jacob's latest favourite friend is the little rubber duck that was part of Sam's nappy cake. It has to go to bed with him every night and has been lucky enough to have a swing with Jacob this morning (and needed sunscreen on cos we were outside). Albert Bear and Baby seem to be second best lately! We also like to see the ducks on our walk, and are enjoying the two little ducklings at the pond. Very cute.

He's also been having fun watching the trucks and diggers out the front of Tim's place - his eyes lit up like he'd been given the world when he first saw them! There's been a bit of action on the block next to us too so he's gonna LOVE all that.

Sam's not quite as excited about the trucks (or duck), but he does love to have a kick and a play on his mat and see himself in the mirror. He successfully moved into his own room this week and I only need to go in once overnight to feed him. He usually has at least one 3 hour sleep during the day too.

Al's getting back into the uni thing (not that he really got out of it) - only 2 months til he's finished for the year! He got a distinction for his first assignment so we're all a bit pleased, and he seems to be juggling the work quite well. We're slowly sorting out a few other things around the place too. Life is good!

Happy Birthday Uncle Stu

Belated Happy Birthday greetings to you from us (well belated blog greetings anyway, there was the phone call and msn yesterday!)... Glad you had an enjoyable day and hope your weekend holiday is even better! We look forward to catching up next week :)
Love Heth, Al, Jacob and Sam
xxxx

holiday snaps to stop Stuart picking on me

We were very wet after the storm.
there are lots of other photos of the coast like these...
What was Karen thinking???
Newcastle was stormy still.

Continuing the saga!

Sat 23rd folk in Motel room next to us left at 5.30am, and once we were awake, figured we could get going early too! Had to wait for petrol station to open, but got away from West Wyalong by 7am, and as we left the town saw signpost saying "Adelaide 9hundred n something ks" .... Dad said "only 900 whatever ks to Adelaide!" I said but we're not going to Adelaide .... but of course, as you know, we were early enough - so we did! Had half an hour home, to unload the car, and pack clothes for Dad's meeting, then sent Heth a SMS from TB saying something like "At Tailem Bend. Shall we bring pizza for all of us, or just us?" They were a bit surprised, but we certainly enjoyed catching up with the little boys again, and it was a real bonus having Michael there overnight too!! We were pretty weary on Sunday - our 950ks the day before caught up with us! But it was good to see Grandad and Rob Cherie and Michael for lunch, too! After they all left Heth and Dad and the boys and I walked up and visited Mum and Isabelle, and Dad and I both found that very hard this time ... guess we were both tired, but both got teary again .... you just never know when things are gonna catch up! Jacob's very sweet "bye bye Bret Brumma" and "bye bye Baby Bell" were very beautiful but ...! I think about how much Mum would just adore all our beautiful precious babies, and also how we should all be enjoying a sweet little girl - buying little pink clothes and watching her grow and smile and respond ... and it's just not happening! NOT FAIR!

Monday Dad went to his meeting - his last PRC, as he's on as the rep for our Network, and he won't be in that Network next year! Jacob went to Care and Heth Sam and I went to Castle Plaza and had a lovely day - even found some clothes that were just what we were looking for, so were very pleased about that! Dad and i came home by 7.30, and Dad installed the new modem for our computers, so we didn't have to use dial-up any more - thank goodness! (Thanks Al!) I started sorting, tidying, putting away gear from our holiday, and that took me basically until Friday! I did a few other things, tho, as well - Tuesday I had another lovely day, this time at Barmera for a riverland quilters get together - saw some old friends, and some beautiful quilts, and enjoyed catching up with our girls, too.

Dad managed to find some photos to enter in the Show, and we took Rob and Cherie's entries in, as well as some quilts - what a surprise! Thank you Rob n Cherie for the delicious dinner Saturday night for my birthday - that was very yummy and much appreciated! Yesterday we all went along to the Show after church, and congratualtions to Cherie on her beautiful rose photo! .. and to Rob for his lavender!! Their flower photos, and sunsets were all particularly good, i thought! I was pretty chuffed too - I got a first for that Celtic wall-hanging that hung above Granny's fridge for 12 years, and Dad said "I should have got half of that!" .... where have we heard that before??! He did indeed stitch one of the celtic knots, and I'm quite happy to share my prize money with him, altho I DID sew it all together and hand quilt it!! But that's OK! I got a second for a bag I made Granny years ago, and a first for the "Friendship Medallion" quilt that I finished this year - and it also got a trophy for most outstanding article in that section! So how bout that??! I'm intending to give it to a friend, so will be nice to give her a prize-winning quilt!

Well that's the end of our holiday ... and now we're looking forward to having a few days with Debbie Stu Natalie and Calvin, who are arriving in time for tea! It will be beaut to have some time with them/you! I suspect my Blog-ging will take a break for a while ... not so much to tell!
Love you all! Mum

A rose by any other name

For the horticulturists amongst us, the image that got "First Prize" (a popular rose name), was actaully the floribunda rose "Brandy". 

The results are in....

And for my first entry into the Loxton show, I am pleased to announce that in the flower catagory within the photography field, my image of a rose came first, and Rob's image of lavender came 4th (certificate of merit). Yippeee!!! (The images of the hibiscus and the daffodil are also our entries)

We did enter another 40 images that didnt turn up trumps, but its all fun! A massive thank you to Mum for doing the hard yards, and actually entering in our exhibits.

Quote of the day from Dad, after being asked if he won anything....
"Not this year.......!" so its game on again next year!

Sadly there seems to be no consistancy with the judging, so its hard to note what the judges are actually looking for in the exhibits.

A massive congratulations to Mum with her exhibits, but that is her story to tell :) 

Heading for Home.

Wed 20th we packed up and left lovely South West Rocks by 9.30, and got ourselves yummy icecreams at the Kiosk, that we'd promised ourselves the week before! Went south thro Kempsey, to Pt McQuarie where we had another deliciuos fish lunch at a little sidewalk place near the shore - and I was a bit stunned to get a phone call from a bus company, booking in a coach load of people to our Martha's Coffee Lounge on 9/12! I sent out letters to 40 coach companies before i left here, so it was good to get a response, just a bit out of context! Found another little pwk shop, then headed inland over the mountains ... and they sure were mountains!! Was hard for Dad to look and drive, so I drove for a while and he took photos out the window as we drove past ... some good ones too! Certainly some spectacular scenery - one thing we must concede to the NSWelsh - they sure do rivers well!! At Moonbi Hill there was an amazing look-out, and Dad got a photo of the view, and also one of the lookout - it was a HUGE rock, with steps up the side!

At Tamworth Dad chose the Cara Park that didn't allow pets (he doesn't like dogs!) and we were a bit disappointed to discover we had a dry dusty stony patch to put the tent on! We'd been spoilt at SWR! Then as we got the tent up we watched lightning over in the west ... getting closer ... then we could hear the thunder .... and we watched it move right around us!! After our usual tuna and salad tea we went for a walk, telling our neighbours we were gonna make it rain! It wasn't cold - still in short sleeves! We went out thro the gate (radical I know!) back in the opposite direction, then walked around the building right next to our tent along the side fence of the cara park - and discovered that it was the Tourist Office ... and bus station! Oh lovely!! Buses arrived and departed between 4.30am and 11.30pm .... and I reckon we heard every one of them!! Was kinda funny! But back to our walk - it started to rain, so we raced back to the tent and listened to it while we played ONO99! Both read a while too, and the rain stopped and the storm fizzled out, and we slept faily well - buses excepted!

Dad went for a run next morning, and came back very excited as he'd found a patchwork shop for me! What a dear ....! We headed up the street and just browsed, did a bit of christmas shopping, and I bought some lovely earrings and a very pretty little plate (that he gave me for my birthday!) We found a Powerhouse Museum - did you know that Tamworth was the first town in Australia to have electric street lighting??! Neither did we! But we do now ... the guide at the museum was just so passionate and excited and knowledgable about his subject, we didn't have the heart to cut him off!! Was a bit interesting, but more as a study of human nature, rather than of electricity etc!! We had coffee, and lunch (Subway!), and then another coffee and cake .... the pwk shop was also a very classy coffee and gift shop, and was back towards the cara pk, so we were ready for a sit and an iced coffee by the time we got back there, after 4 hours of wandering along the street! When we got "home" Dad had a sleep and I took my chair out in the shade and read. It was pretty windy by then, and very dusty! He cooked us our last steak onions eggs tea and we had with salad .... was very nice! It's become our tradition for Dad to do the meals while we're on hols - I figure I get them the other 11 months of the year (generally!) so is fair enough! Mind you, I usually decide what he'll get, which is half the battle .... !

Friday we packed up again, and headed east again! Lunch at a lovely little bakery at Gilgandra - the Rock Bun bakery! Very nice pie and latte! As we got nearly to Dubbo there was a little locality called Brocklehurst - what a surprise! But we didn't think quickly enough to stop and take a photo! We had a wander around Dubbo, for a break, and even had Gloria Jeans coffee! That's also where Dad realised he'd forgotten that last Sun was the last Sun of the month, so he was meant to be preaching in Renmark - and he'd forgotten to organise it! Ooops! He made a couple of phone calls (Friday afternoon!!!) and one couple very generously offered to help him out!! I think he visited them on Thursday and ate humble pie!! On through Parkes and Forbes, and got to the same very basic little Motel at West Wyalong about 5.30. We went for a long walk, all along the main street and back, then had usual tea, read, watched footy, and played ONO99.

So yes .... we did get to stay in our tent, and it did stop raining! And I really have no idea who won most of the games .... sometimes it went very much one way, and others the other way! Which is a pretty fair thing to happen I reckon! Our Holiday Saga is just about over ... but I might write some more one day! Bye all! Love Mum

The Saga continues - our blissful week!

Clive and Sarena stayed here the week we went away, and took us out to dinner the night before we left. Clive spent years in Newcastle (in Air Force) and recommended we check out South West Rocks, just south of Coffs Harbour. Wed 13/9 we packed up and left Coffs, enjoying some sunshine for a change! We went through Scotts Head, and Stuart's Point, and found South West Rocks .... and it looked promising, so we checked in for two nights. To cut a long story short, it was even lovelier than it seemed at first and we ended up staying a week - which was good as it meant we got the 7th night free! The Park wasn't too full, there were lots of parrots and kookaburras ... and magpies! And Kangaroos that came grazing each evening near the tent, taking no notice of us! One Mum had a Joey that would lean out as Mum ate, and would have a nibble on the grass too - was very sweet, but sadly too dark by then for photos!

We did lots of walks, and Dad went for lots of runs, and more walks than me, and we found a very nice restaurant up the top of the hill, overlooking the beautiful bay. We actually went there 3 times - once for iced coffees, once we had wedges and iced coffees (very nice lunch!), and on my birthday I had yummy fish and Dad enjoyed his steak! It was a very special spot - and very popular! Right at the top of the hill was an old gaol (Trial Bay Gaol) a bit like Pt Arthur only not so big or so haunting and sad. We had a good look around that.

We both read lots - I'll try not to say too much about Dad's choice of Mills & Boon rubbish from the "library shelf" in the laundry at the park ... I guess it was "chewing gum for the eyes" ... or something! We played ONO99 each day too, and Dad cooked us bacon and eggs, or steak onion potato etc etc most days, over at the camp kitchen near the pool. We went to the little church there on Sunday morning (8am!!) and the Minister is Peter Martin who was in College with us! They invited us to lunch on Monday, and that was quite an interesting experience - Peter was Presbytery Minister for Central Q, with half a million acres for his "parish" and we heard a bit about that! Lorna's a Minister too, at Gladstone Q until January when she's moving down near Newcastle, a bit closer to Peter! She was there, as she's just got back from visitng her family in Canada and had a few more days leave.
It was a really nice week there, and we were both a bit sorry to pack up and leave on Wed 20th ... but, yes, it DID eventually stop raining! Stay tuned .... Love Mum

Next episode - not quite so dramatic!

Fri 8th we left Blacksmiths Beach, bought our new tent at Belmont and headed north, checking out the little bays and more stormy seas. Decided to stay at Pacific Palms, just south of Forster, and it was a really awful crappy tatty old cabin, $45/night, no hot water, with a half mile hike to the loos! But it had a bed, a heater and TV, so we coped - I couldn't work out why the Ladies had 8 showers and only 2 loos .... and one of those was blocked ... as I said, really crappy! We went for a walk between showers, read, watched the footy (Melb/St Kilda), and slept OK! I wasn't impressed next morning when Dad said we should stay another night, as he thought we'd have trouble finding somewhere else on a Sat night ..... he may have been right, but ...yuk! Sat he went for a run, I walked around the cara Park and had a chat with a bloke who told me he was staying in his brother's on-site van, and he wished he'd bought one himself when it was offered to him 10 years ago ... for $1m!! My goodness!! I'm sure some of the "permanents" are very nice (esp if they have en suite!) ... but $1m!! Position position position I guess! We had bacon eggs etc for lunch, Dad had a sleep, we watched the rain (!), and I wrote 8 postcards, stitched and read! Watched footy, drove car over to loos, and went to bed. Lots more wind rain thunder etc overnight, and we were glad we weren't in a tent!

When we checked out Sunday morning the lady in the office said they'd had 110mms in the previous 24 hours (that's 4 1/2"!) - I can beleive that! And it kept up all that day too! We headed north again, thro Forster to Pt McQuarie, where we had lunch - scotch fillets and vegies for $12!! Posted postcards and birthday cards, then on to Coffs Harbour, where Dad checked us in at Park Beach Holiday Park. $60 for cabin, or $71 for ensuite cabin .... gee I wonder ...?! We got the ensuite! Was very comfy cabin, compact - and dry! Still raining and blowing outside, and we could (just!) see the sea! Settled in, Dad slept, I stitched, we watched TV, played ONO99, and read. Dad stayed up and watched a Grand Prix!

More heavy rain Monday, and we went out of town a little way, to a very nice patchwork shop we'd visited 8 years ago on LSL! It's still a funny little shop with SO much stuff in it .. and the most amazing views way down to the coast ... I bought birthday presents for Agnes, and Lyn K ... and some other bits and pieces! At a big shopping centre back in CH we got thongy scuffy footwear for both of us, and a big golfing umbrella - figure we may well need it next year, too!! (Funny thing is, we didn't ever actually use it!) Had Subway lunch (just for Dad!) back to cabin and he went for a run (not actually raining just then!) I did the washing and drying (wet again by then!), stitched, we read, ate, watched TV and played ONO99.

Forecast still not too flash so we booked in for another night, 5 minutes after the folk who had it booked for that night, had rung and cancelled ... we would have been a bit grumpy if we'd had to move! Were lucky! Still raining, so we drove up to Grafton, just for a look! Found a good book shop with some cheap books (incl pwk books!), had nice counter lunch at a pub on the river, with 16 old ducks celebrating someone's birthday - it was quite a funny study of human nature!! But $8.50 for chicken parmi with chips and salad was worth waiting for! Back to cabin, read, slept/stitched, watched Tv, ate, and played cards .... and that'll do for this "episode"!

Will they actually get into their new tent?? Will it ever stop raining?? Who wins the card games?? .... will they run out of books?? Stay tuned for the next exciting (?) episode!
Love Mum

My Holiday. by Karen Kitto

We left Loxton 9.30am Tues 5/9, had lunch at the nice bakery at Mildura, and checked into motel at West Wyalong about tea time. We went to the Club and had chinese tea, back to the very basic motel (what can you expect for only $50?!) and slept early ... was a long day! Left about 8am Wed and headed east .... Dad very ably found the Cumberland highway and sort of skirted round Sydney, and we got to a little place called Blacksmiths Beach, south of Newcastle late afternoon. Set up our tent in a lovely caravan park there, had our usual little tin of tuna, with beetroot, grated cheese, little toms, cucumber etc for tea, then went for a walk. Lovely little town, smell of the sea in the air, and it was very calm and very pleasant ... and we were delighted to be in our tent - felt like we were really finally on hols! Was another long day, so another early night, and we were woken about midnight with rain dripping on Dad's face ... and gales blowing the tent way over nearly flat, and more water finding its way in .... not a comfortable experience! We both stood holding the side of the tent, leaning into the wind, and were very grateful when it all eased soon after 1am. Not much we could do about anything then, so climbed back into bed and slept again. Think I went over to shower about 6.30 (sort of a bit silly, when I think about it ... but it was HOT water!) and the gale blew up again before I got back, so while Dad went adn had his hot shower I held the tent, adn got very scared adn sad ... was horrible! We spent the next little while just holding the tent against the wind - then decided to just get out of there! While Dad continued to hold the tent I packed everything up as quickly as I could and got everything in the car, more or less .... got absolutely saturated in the process, bare feet as i didn't have enough shoes to have any soaked! I put our table over in the laundry, as things weren't packed in properly and it didn't fit in the car, and we flattened the tent and went over to the Office. We'd booked in for two nights, and were very pleased that there was a cabin available for us to move to .... cost $85 more than the tent site (ouch!) but was necessary (and VERY nice!). We moved our gear and put on our fan heater and the air conditioner to dry everything out, took rather damp (!) self portraits ... and we had hot showers and got dry clothes on! And we laughed!! I think it was about then that Dad told me the tent was stuffed - very sad! It fined up a bit later and we went over and collected our table, then packed up the poor old very soggy sad old tent, and dragged it over to the dumpster!
That was definitely the most dramatic bit of our holiday, and I'll be happy not to do it again!
We drove up to Newcastle, took speccie photos of stormy seas, had coffee adn cake, adn looked in some camping shops. Back at cabin Dad cooked us steak and onions adn vegies for tea, adn we looked at the camping guide and tried to work out what to do next!

That might be enough for one instalment .... hope you're all doing OK! Love Mum xxx

Granny n Grampa

As you probably heard, on Friday we went up to Crystal Brook to visit Granny n Grampa. They both appeared to be doing quite well - Granny certainly is enjoying it there and Grampa was not as grumpy as he often is. They enjoyed meeting Sam and showing off their family to some other residents, and of course seeing us too. Granny read Jacob a story and he liked going for a ride on her frame. When we were leaving Albert got a ride on the frame and Granny and Jacob pushed it together... unfortunately at one point Jacob was going a bit quick for poor Granny! No major dramas and after that he was very good at going slow with her. It was very cute and they did appreciate our visit.
We then went to the farm and had dinner with Andrew and Maria which was also lovely - all morning Jacob was excited about going to the farm ('Farm? Pigs? Sheep? Chicks?') so he enjoyed his 'Farm Tour' with Uncle Andrew. They are very hospitable and are more than happy to have people stay for a meal or the night if that makes it easier to visit Granny and Grampa. We hope to go up again once Al's finished Uni for the year.

So where are the holiday snaps?

Come on parental units. Where are the photos? Where is the holiday story? Come on - get with the program!

Whyalla News

It has been so long since we posted something that I thought I would throw up something quick to let you know that we are still here and still living life.
Last weekend Stuart was down in Murray Bridge for the Internation Pedal Prix (a 24 hour recumbent bike race) with a team from school. He had a wonderful time and one day he will write a blog about it. He has been drumming up support to send a team again next year and is quite keen to enter his own adult team in some of the shorter races throughout the year - but I'll let him tell you about that. I will say though that they still do not know what their placing was in the race as the pedal prix computers crashed 6 hours before the end of the race and so they are going through the data now trying to work out the positions of the 219 entries!
The night night before the pedal prix Stuart was fortunate enough to stay with Heth and Al (thanks guys) and -as Heth already wrote- got some lego for his birthday from them. He finally put his rescue helicopter together the other night and it is SOOOOOOO cool. Thank you Heth, Al and boys.
While Stuart was away I popped over to Orroroo for Saturday night and was able to bring mum back to Whaylla with me on Sunday. It was nice to have Grandma around and we were able to get a couple of housey jobs done as well as having Grandma join with us at playgroup and mke Natalie a lovely new veil for her dress ups. We took Grandma to Pt Augusta on Thursday where my dad met us for lunch whcih was lovely.
Katt had his stiches out today and is enjoying not having to be in the cage anymore (yay, no more cleaning kitty litter!!!) The vet nurse said that he has healed very well which was nice to hear.
Stuart is now out playing poker and is hoping to come home very late (and very victorious). I'm hoping to get some sleep! (though might try and updat our blog - very over due!).

Oh welcome home to Nanna and Grandpa too. Look foward to hearing (and seeing) about your holiday.

Brocks Stuff

Thought we'd stick up a few photos for you to enjoy... We're all doing well and are loving having Daddy on holidays! Jacob's a real chatterbox and loves to be involved in everything we do. We have some 2yr old issues but that's to be expected. He's still very affectionate with Sam but usually takes it a bit too far and completely squashes him but it is with love (apart from yesterday when he was frustrated and stepped on his head - good thing we were both there in grabbing reach!).

Sam's doing really well and is a very smiley little fella and very alert and active when he's awake. Being 2 months now he's awake for longer and sometimes I forget he's not a newborn anymore. Kicks a LOT! He's very good at night too and is a quick feeder and puts himself back to sleep - a few days there he was only feeding once overnight which was wonderful! Twice isn't too bad tho when it's so stress free.

We've been going for lots of walks lately and Saturday when we walked to the playground for a picnic Jacob pushed Albert Bear most of the way in the stroller. Took longer than usual but he enjoyed it. What else...? Looking forward to the footy on Saturday! Go the Crows ;) Ummm... my birthday was good but you can read about that on our blog. Better go it's getting to that feral time of night... Much love to you all! xox

Happy to NannaK

That's right, enormous birthday greetings and songs sung like a 2 year old to NannaK. We know you're nowhere near a computer today but we hope you enjoy this when you get home. Trust lunch was lovely and you got a bit spoiled like you deserve :) Jacob and Sam are very much looking forward to seeing you on Sunday and so are we!
Many Hugs and Pisses,
Love Jacob, Sam, Heth & Al
xox

Inspired...?

Think Tim inspired him, when I got home this afternoon Al was cutting down the apple tree! The idea is to put the little garden shed in the corner back there at some stage but I didn't realise it was gonna happen just yet. Ah well all good wood!

Wood Blessings

On Saturday our neighbour Tim was cutting down some trees at his place and was very happy for us to take the wood! So now we have the HUGEST pile of wood sitting out there, what with Tim's, and stuff The Nannas got from around the corner, and from some trees cut down on the block next to us, and bits Grandad gets for us. We'll be toasty all winter!

Happy Birthday Heth!

Happy Birthday Heth (for the four hours you have left of it!). Sorry I didn't get anything up here earlier, but instead I have decided to send my ambassador to you in person to bestow upon you some birthday blessings.
Thank you so much for having Stuart stay tonight.
Hope your day has been great (and that your boys have given you wonderful gifts of blissful sleep). We love you and we hope all the best for you.
Love Debbie, Natalie and Calvin (and Stuart can bestow his own love when you see him!)(and Katt)
###

53!!!

I'm freaking out here... The Wiggles are the house band on Rove tonight and as we all know are celebrating their 15th Anniversary, and someone mentioned if they're around for another 15 years Jeff will be 68. WHAT!!! So I googled it and yup, Purple Jeff is 53 years old! 53!!! No wonder he's always falling asleep! (And in case you were wondering, Murray is 46, Anthony is 43, and Greg is 34)

Washed out

Not sure if you've heard much from Mum and Dad but their tent holiday has been rather washed out! They're at the north coast of NSW and one night last week got entirely soaked in a huge storm which broke part of their tent. Since then they've been staying in cabins and on site vans, and they bought a new tent which they're hoping to use soon when the weather clears up! One place they stayed had 4 1/2 inches of rain in 24 hours which is a bit ridiculous. I spoke to them this morning (they're in Coffs Harbour) and they sounded happy and are nearly able to see the funny side of it all. I doubt it's quite the holiday they anticipated but will be good for them both anyway. And they were going to buy an umbrella today too. I'm sure that we'll all hear a lot more about it soon and we look forward to the piccies on the blog!

We love them because they cost us SO much!

Katt got into a bit of trouble this weekend when a thread from his collar got caught under his front paw slicing through all the skin there - ewwwww. We took him to the vet today where he was cleaned, stiched and bandaged. The full story is on our blog, but the short news is that he is now home in a cage in the dining room where he is to be "strickly" confined for the next 2 WEEKS! He was not happy with the first 2 hours! Not sure how the next 2 weeks will go but I guess we'll all have to learn to live with it. Tomorrow I'll go and buy him a new, softer bed so that he can rest his arm (sorry, paw).

RIP Brocky

We went to Playschool

Calvin and I joined Natalie and her kindy to go and see Playschool today in Pt Augusta. There is more about the day on our blog, but I did think of Uncle Rob when I took this picture of Calvin! Calvin was certainly excited about meeting Karen.

Nanny B's visit

We had a lovely time with NannyB. Apart from all the gardening, dishes and washing she did (for which we are very greatful!) it was lovely that she could spend some time with the boys and us. Jacob had a great time playing outside with her and learnt all sorts of new tricks, and Sam got quite used to being cuddled to sleep (that's gotta change now!). She said that she could really notice the change in Sam just in the 2 weeks she was here - he's a lot more alert and aware (boy can he kick!) and he's holding his head better too. We also picked up a few toddler taming suggestions which she would not have dared to mention until we asked so will be interesting to see how we all go. Was also fun having 'TWO Nannys!" a few times and Jacob got them sorted out quickly and knew which one to go to for what ;) Not that he's got Nanna around his finger or anything! Not quite sure when we'll see her next but we'll still get a weekly phone call and shall send lots of pics. They'll soon be busy over there with the arrival of grandson number 7 in November!

We also went to the show ...

... and also spent LOTS of money! Oh well, I guess that is what you do at the show. Here is a pic of Natalie and Stuart enjoying the Crazy Coaster. Like Cherie there is more about our weekend on our blog (I have been busy this morning).

Show me the money!

Yep we went to the show, and we spent a lot of money! :( Here are Rob and Michael enjoying themselves in the fantastic conditions that we had yesterday. To find out more info about why Michael looks so spooked, see my blog at http://noiseworker.spaces.live.com/ it also has more images too! 

Warning!

Hi all! Will be good to see you all soon! Last weekend Dad got a dose of a wog, and my skin was really awfully sore and ugly and itchy and generally disgusting ... so on Tues we had "his n hers" Dr appts! The cream and anithistamines Dr prescribed for me have worked wonderfully and I'm very pleased about that! It feels so much better - not to mention looking better too!
Dr said Dad's was just a virus, continue the rest n panadol etc, and he noticed it was over 3 years since Dad had a cholesterol test. So Wed morning Dad went up and had his blood test, and was a bit startled to get a call from the clinic that afternoon asking him to have a repeat test, and go back to Dr! He had the test befror he went to Renmark Thurs, and yesterday morning saw Dr again .... his cholesterol is 6.2, which is a bit high, and there's some "anomaly" with his liver .... possibly a "hang-over" from the glandular fever he had when he was 21! They want to keep an eye on that, so he'll be checked again in 3 months! We're both very releived that that's all it is .... a warning for Dad to not have a block of chocolate or a whole little camembert for his supper! ... and to be a bit more careful about what he eats, and more disciplined with his exercise! (By the way, Dad shared the wog with me and now I feel pretty crappy!)
Our computers have been a bit "off" too, and it seems we need a new modem, but we're coping (just!) at the moment with dial-up ... boy is it slow! I think Dad's gonna get a wireless one, but not sure when! After holidays maybe .... start tomorrow .... yippee! See you soon! Love Mum

Growing up FAST!

Calvin had his first hair cut today! I can't believe how different he looks. More on our blog.

Going to Rio

The Boy from Oz was FANTASTIC! And of course we feel like we've been going to Rio ever since with that song in our heads... I'll see if Mum wants to add anything more profound...
(And the boys survived their afternoon home alone together, the little ones slept and Sam took the bottle and there were no major dramas so I may be allowed out again one day ;) )
Mum here ... I just loved the show and was so impressed by all of it, and reckon it was worth every cent ... we even wondered about going again tomorrow, but Heth had no more milk expressed for Sam ... and I doubt there would have been tickets available anyway .... all in all, it was fantastic! I'm so pleased we went! .... and I'm tired now! See you all soon!

wow!

Hi Honeys! We all know what a small world this is, don't we?? Last night Dad and i went to the High School Musical, and as we walked into the foyer we were greeted by ... Allan, from Adare, and two very excited women, also from Adare ..... good grief!! They're all part of the South Coast District Musical society (or whatever it is) and next year they're doing "The Boyfriend", which is what the school's doing this year ... so they came for a look! We had some very interesting conversations, then and at interval ... Dad even let on that we used to be in musicals, so who knows what we'll be "encouraged into" next year! Allan made mention of "the letter" ... the "official invitation", and apparently he posted it last Friday, but we haven't got it yet! (Dad's been getting just a bit anxious!) ... so if it doesn't turn up today he'll ring Allan for another to be sent! Was all ve-ery interesting!
Dad was at Renmark yesterday, too, and one of the key ladies he's had a lot to do with crossed her arms, tapped her foot and said "what's this I hear about you leaving?? ... I'm NOT happy!" It seems there were Adare folk, and Loxton folk, and Renmark folk, at the Parilla centenary last weekend, and Chris (Renmark) was told by an Adare person "Oh we've been trying to get him for ages!" .... so isn't that nice??! It sure made Dad feel good ... altho then of course he's worried that he might not live up to expectations .... mutter mutter!
Then when we got home there were 7 messages on our ans machine .... one from John adn 4 from Granny, telling us that Grampa had a fall yesterday and had stitches ... he walked up the street n back (like he's not meant to!) and as he got back out the front of Willochra he didn't lift his stick high enough and sprawled on the path! Had to wait a while for someone to find him, and he's got 5 stitches (told Elwyn he'll have a headache today!) but is OK ... what can we say!??
And yes, Heth, I HAVE got the tickets! Love you all!

For tail shakin' fun...

just go to the Cozens blog (sorry, I didn't post it here - thought that might be over kill) and there is a little video of Natalie and Calvin dancing to a tail shakin' good song!
Hope everyone is going well (or getting well as the case my be Heth. Hope you're feeling better soon).
Hugs to all.

Happy Birthday Aunty Cherie!

We just wanted to say a Huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNTY CHERIE from Jacob, Sam, Heth & Al. Hope you have a wonderful day and enjoy the celebrations!

Jacob says: Happy happy happy cake aun che (then laughs)
Sam says: zzzz grunt grunt grunt (cos he's asleep)

Happy Birthday To Cherie.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the Birthday girl.
Although we are assuming that you have to work today, we here in Whyalla all hope that you can have an enjoyable, and as much as possible, relaxing day today.
There were some big goals that you wrote about on your blog the other day and we certainly hope that you are able to achieve the first today by encountering NO worries, just happies!

Sadly your birthday card is still here in Whyalla, but hopefully by the end of the day it won't be.

Big hugs to you, Love from
Debbie, Stuart, Natalie and Calvin.

hello everybody

hi everybody how are you? love michael xoxoooxxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

hello everybody

hi everybody how are you? love michael xoxoooxxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

lots of legs ....

Hi Honeys, Thought i should tell you about my Friday morning. I got up about 6.30 as usual, and got dressed in the dark, as usual. I took my shoes and socks out to the dining room to put on, where there was a bit more light, and as I went to put my foot in my sock I realised there was a big huntsman spider on the sock ..... I squealed and threw it all away, and went in and woke Dad .... he hadn't rushed out to save me, so i figured in that case he deserved to be woken! I didn't know where the spider had gone, but when i calmed down, got another pair of socks, and went to put them on, I could see that he was calmly sitting on the sock I'd thrown away! I got Dad to come out then, and I want you all to use your imaginations here ..... picture Dad in his bright yellow nightshirt, belting the spider with the fly swat, and saying "naughty spider, naughty naughty spider!" ..... now is that scarey, or what??!
Love Mum
I DID enjoy my walk, once I got going!

Helloooooo...?

Ya'll been a bit quiet here lately! We assume everyone's ok just too busy to blog? If that's the case hope it's good busy rather than bad busy. We're good but busy (lol) - Al's busy with Uni and as you can imagine I'm busy with 2 little boys. Hope to hear from you soon! Much love to you all.

Granny and Grampa

Well we're home again, both rather weary and I think a bit sad - and with a boot full of "stuff"! We must be demented, bringing home more things to sort out - and pack! But hey .. what's a few more boxes! We spent an hour or so with Granny and Grampa last night, and Granny's bright as a button! She loves it there, and has put on a bit of weight ... not a bad thing! Grampa is just SO deaf, he's very isolated, and frustrated, and grumpy and unhappy ... and he wishes he wasn't here! And there's not really anything to say to him on that subject ... he feels he's outlived his usefulness, and combined with the (necessary) loss of independence at C Bk, he's really had enough! Poor old darling!! We did get a grin from him before we left today, but there sure weren't many! We stayed with Maria and Andrew last night, which was good - Andrew talked at length about the whole situation with Mum and Dad - they've learned since Mum and Dad have been over there, that there were lots of things happening before they moved that really were worrying - like Mum following Dad when he went for his walk, then going off in a different direction! I think it was good for Andrew to let off steam! Maria and Andrew want to buy the house, so that makes things interesting! But I'm sure it'll all work out, hopefuly with no ill-feelings anywhere!
Elwyn had asked us to go in to the house this morning and sort through some things - they'd set up a box for each of the 5 kids, and Dad(Ian's)'s was full ... I think every photo we (and you!)'ve ever given them, books, and various other things! Dad also took photos of all the furniture, with numbers on, to email around so all 5 of the kids (not sure about the next generation!) can say what (if anything) they'd like, and if there's only one person who wants a thing that will make things easy!
We went through some cupboards and started a heap of things on a shelf, with a note "If no-one else wants these I'd love them", and we ended up with the shelf full - Granny's writings, and her diaries, some letters ..... Grampa's Mum's diaries .... and then we decided that we'd bring them all home and tell the others we've got them at the moment - but not necessarily to keep! There are still stacks of books there, as well as photos etc etc etc ... their original dinner set ... a few things in the china cabinet ... it all looks very sad and a bit bare ... just not right! We had lots of hugs, and some tears!
We went back and had lunch with Granny and Grampa, and we managed to get Grampa telling us the story of when the brumby Rasheed kicked him in the knee (1939 at Minnipa!), and that was good - was more like his old self then .... but he's just so deaf! Then Granny was telling him off for being negative and depressed ... as I said, all a bit sad! (His knee's crook too!)
Even tho he's very deaf, they both enjoy company (family rather than other residents!) so I encourage all of you to make the trip and visit them .... they'd love to see you all! If you book in you can eat with them, for $5 each, and they're very nice meals - and excellent value!
I should go - I'm not looking at boxes of "stuff" tonight - too much in one day!
Hope you're all well and happy! Love Mum (PS Their new phone works well and Grampa can hear OK with it!)

Sam's Dedication

Everyone's invited to

Sam's Dedication Service
Sunday 3rd September
6pm at Adelaide West UC
Soup supper to follow.
Love to see you all there!

It's all good

We weighed Sam again today and he's 3260gm so has put on 230gm which is great! The nurse at the clinic said we must be doing the right thing so no more restrictions (although I'll try to avoid him sleeping too long during the day and hope that he sleeps longer at night) and do whatever we think is best. It's always nice to have that affirmation that we're doing the right thing, so feeling good! And of course I'll be feeling even better if Sam doesn't wake up for a feed every 2 hours tonight...

And here's a gross story for the day - Sam was in our bed between 5 - 6 this morning cos he wouldn't sleep and i needed to, and I must have had my mouth open at the wrong time and in the wrong place cos he just did a little chuck that went in my mouth! It was GROSS!!! Luckily it wasn't one of the projectile spews he often does... :|

Hi All

Hi Honeys All!
I've just been reading Lindy's Blog entries, and decided that anything in our lives is really just so much blah blah blah .... we mostly don't appreciate how blessed we all are, do we?! I continue to pray for Lindy's family and friends and all of Lebanon! ... and Israel ... and all that!
Our lives have taken on a new direction, now that folk here know we're leaving, and as we tell more folk I dare say there'll be a mixture of responses ... one of our lovely ladies left the meeting in tears yesterday after Dad dropped his bomb-shell! And Mickie next door was quite upset when I told her this morning ... we WILL be missed ... but we're both convinced that it is the right thing for us to do, and the right time! The overwhelming positive vote at Adare's meeting yesterday was very encouraging too!
However, we still live here in Loxton for another 5 months, and there are things to be done here ... not even thinking about packing!! We're having our Martha's On Martha free coffee lounge at church again this Christmas, and I've been working out what to put in the official Lights Brochure ... we've started a bit earlier this year, so will make it into the official blurb! We've decided to open more often too - each Fri Sat and Sun evening from L Lights Up night (25/11) up to and including Christmas Eve ... 14 nights instead of 9! Will be interesting!! And fun!
We're both looking forward to our holidays ... heading to northern NSW after Fathers' Day, and returning to Adelaide for Dad to start work with PRC meeting Mon 25th. I thought we'd stay in cabins en route, but fortunately asked the other day - Dad says we're tenting! Lovely! We'll probably compromise and travel to Canberra Tues 5th and stay with Bill and Anne, then to Newcastle next day .... but we'll see! I have been thinking we're possibly more likely to have ALL the family stay next year, so an extra mattress of some sort would be a good investment! (It will be LOVELY having ALL the family stay .... I'm REALLY looking forward to it!!)
We're going to visit Granny and Grampa tomorrow and will tell them we're moving. Apparently Dad has a cousin at Victor H too .... one I've never met! Dare say we'll find out about that!
Hope you're all well adn not working too hard! Hugs and "pisses" Nanna/Mum

Teddy 'Beanie' Bear's Pinic

Been awhile sinve our kids appeared here. So here they are with their growing collection of eanie kids bears. For the story of todays BKBear antics feel free to have a look at our blog (and the photo is a bit different there). Hope everyone is going well. My kids are loving the sunny weather and the trampoline is getting a lot of use.

BIG news

Hip Hip Hooray, our little little man is getting BIGger - Sam's put on 320gm in a week! They like babies to put on 20 - 25gm a day and he's put on more like 45gm a day so looks like feeding him often every 2 hours has done the trick. Now we can do 3 - 4 hourly feeds during the day and 4 - 5 hourly at night (although I'm not sure how likely I am to actually set my alarm so he doesn't go more than 5 hours...) and we'll weigh him at the clinic every week or 2. More updates as they happen! (He's now 3030gm)

Fire

(Sorry bout all the posts from me today but Jacob's in care so I can actually get to the computer without needing to play Bob or Wiggles games!)
Anyway...

We're still trying to get Jacob to say 'Sam' instead of Fire (ya know, Fireman Sam)... attempts tend to go something like this:
me: 'Can you say Sam?' Jacob: 'Fire'
H: 'sssss' J: 'sssss'
H: 'ssssssandy' J: 'sssssandy'
H: 'ssssssam' J: 'sssssfire'
You get the idea!
The other day I said something about 'Sammy' and so Jacob's been calling him 'Firemy'. I guess we must be getting closer, and til then it's just cute! He sure loves his little brother :)

Who's out there?

I know there's a number of people who visit this blog and I'm just wondering who you all are! So please feel free to make a comment... C'mon now don't be shy ;)

Speaking of spew...

help?

Hi all .... i'm home again .... and I haven't looked at my Inbox yet .......! I'm checking the Blogs first, adn went to make a comment on Rob's - but I need to sign in using my MSN address (as i understand it), and I can't rmemeberr what it is! I only ever use MSn to chat when someone else starts the conversation .... you may have noticed! Any suggestions as to how I can find out what it is?? ..... and of coure, now I can't remember what i was gonna say to you, Rob!! But anyway .... it's been a long day and I'm probably too tired to be trying to do this now anyway!! .... open to suggestions please! Love Mum

Thank you Nanna!

Just wanted to say a very HUGE thank you to Nanna for staying with us and helping us so much. For the dishes, the washing, the shopping, the Wiggles, the morning shift, the 'up', and most importantly the love and support and encouragement at this time, words don't do justice for the gratitude we feel! We're all very grateful and we love you and appreciate you very much.
Thank you also to Pappa for sharing her with us for the past few weeks :)
Much love and blessings,
Heth, Al, Jacob and Sam
xxxx

Rob has his own blog too!

Michael's is coming soon too.. his will be a bit different from the standard blog though..

Robs is at http://rombles.spaces.live.com/default.aspx?owner=1, I will put links up for those who want them :)

Michael has his first wobbly tooth!

It's a little later than normal, but still fantastic all the same! Michael discovered this morning that he has his first wobbly tooth. He has been smiling from ear to ear all day at his great discovery!
I have been passing on the news at work, so everyone at my work is awaiting the tooth fairy's first visit anxiously!
Me on the other hand, I am quietly a little sad as now my baby is really growing up. Rob helped ease that pain by stating that very soon his voice will break and all other fun things like that :(

Funny story for the day

Last night after I fed Sam Al was holding him and admiring the pockets on his jacket. He said 'If you're gonna spew, spew into this' (in his best Garth voice) and spew Sam did! I don't think he did manage to get any into his pockets, just all over himself and Al. Couldn't have timed that comment (or that spew) better!

Buzz & Woody come to stay

Once again, thankyou Cherie, Robert and Michael for Calvin's fish tank. There haven't actually been any fish in there since April but now that life is more quiet and we are doing less travel it seemed like a good time for Calvin to put some new fish in his tank. So now we would like to introduce to you Buzz (the big fish) and Woody (the little fish). We actually got Buzz on Monday with five teeny tiny fish, but Buzz ate three of the tiny fish before we even got him out of the bag! These two small fish have managed to stay alive by hiding from Buzz in the fake plants, so technically Cinderella and George are also in these photos with Calvin.
For a bit of fun, when we went back to the pet shop to buy Woody (a play mate that Buzz couldn't eat!) we also got a bunch more teeny tiny fish which we currently have swimming in a wine glass. I have put Natalie in charge of looking after these ones.

Thank you Whyalla Kitto's

Thank you very much for Sam's spunky fluffy bunny suit! He wore it to church sunday night for our first official family outing which we all survived quite well - even going to KFC for dinner first ;) Must be crazy but it was all good!

We love you guys heaps and look forward to seeing you!
xox

Another weigh in

Yesterday the nurse from the Child Youth Health clinic came to check Sam. He's all good just still a bit on the little side. Yesterday's weight was 2710g which is only 10g off his birth weight. They're meant to put on 20 - 25g a day and Sam's put on an average of 16g/day so we're back on a feeding limit of 3 hours during the day and 4 hours at night. *sigh!* The nurse wasn't too concerned but will come back next monday to weigh him again. So of course all yesterday arvo he was sleeping beautifully and i had to wake him to feed, and last night he was telling me it was time for a feed more like 2 hourly. I'm a bit whacked today! He's also a bit of a chucker (not just overflow but projectile vomits at times too!) so finding the balance between feeding him enough so he gets big and fat and not too much that he loses it all has been interesting.

Aside from all that things are going well. Jacob tends to jump very rapidly between happy as larry and throwing a ginormous tantrum and there's no telling what might set him off! He does love all the Nanna attention he gets and we're really not sure what kind of reaction we'll get after she leaves on friday! So we're gonna wean him gradually and are sending Nanna to stay with Grandad tonight (and i'm sure she's very much looking forward to a night and morning off and getting to sleep in a bed!) so we'll see how that all goes. It's great that he is in Care mondays and wednesdays! It has been more than wonderful having Nanna here playing with Jacob and doing the endless piles of washing and dishes (and all the other important things she does) but I think we'll all be ready to 'get back to normal' and discover what this new normal is with a toddler and a new born and a uni student and an exhusted mother... Time will tell!