An Aussie Christmas

Well, our tree is up! It desperately needs ordiments but at least she's got a Santa hat and a skirt.

This is what an Aussie Christmas looks like on a Friday night. Fan blasting on high speed, citronella candles lit.. Time to relax.

Ellie the One Year Old

Happy Birthday Ellie Belly!

Its hard to believe that a year ago today Ellie was born.  Its so true what they say "the days are long, but the years are short"!  Ellie has been the perfect addition to our family.  She is constant entertainment and full of energy.

Ellie the One Year Old:

You're a toddler now, yikes!

Nick Names:  Tuna, Crammit, Ellie Belly, Ells, Ellouise, turned into Weesa.. oh there is probably more but I cant think of them.  Those are the main ones.

Favorite Foods: Pretty much anything.  Loves fruit (bananas every morning for breakfast), mango, strawberries.. any fruit really, vegis (frozen is fine by you too), sushi, anything you can feed yourself.    The Dr. has put you on a dairy free diet for now.

Favorite activities:  You love swimming lessons, baths, playing on the vacuum while Im vacuuming.  You can climb on things as of about a week ago- you are on everything.. the couch, the tv stand, the coffee table.. in the bath tub by yourself.  I have had to really step up my lifeguard duties. You enjoy kids club at the gym and play happily the whole hour. The ladies at kids club think you're great. You love music and dancing in the car and along side Dyllan on the coffee table. You have just started using your walker toy, and you're cruising down the hall.  You're not super motivated to actually walk, but you are enjoying standing on your own for a few seconds.  You follow mom or Dyllan around the house like a little puppy. You love playing with Dyllan in her room.  Dyllan's Your favorite game is dress ups.  You're both super hero's or ballerinas, or princess. You enjoy the park and gravitate to either the sand pit or the toys you can pop yourself up on. Probably your favorite thing in our house to play with is dads speakers and the dvd player wires.  Oh and now the christmas tree and the ordainments.

Personality:  You are sweet and loving.  You love to cuddle-  but not for too long at a time.  You're a little flirt.  You are very vocal and have no problem telling people when you have something to say or when you need something.  You're busy and into everything.  You are independent and will happily play by yourself or alongside Dyllan for a long time (most of the time).  You love being on a schedule, although your schedule revolves around Dyllan a lot. You're pretty patient, most of the time.  You enjoy being out and about and new places and things to look at keep you entertained.  You easily go to other people and you're not scared of strangers.  You have your days when you're just plain hard work, but they're easily forgotten about.

Your Schedule:  You wake up with the sun between 4:50am- 5:30am  ( I need to get some black out shades!) You either have breakfast in your high chair or you come into bed with mom and dad and your bottle- depending on how tired we are.  Some days you go for a ride in the double stroller with Dyllan while mom and dad go for a run.  You always fall asleep.  You like to play at the park if you are awake while Dad does his exercises.  Most days you go to kids club at the gym and hang out with your friends while mom does a class.  You have lunch around 11 and take a nap shortly after.  You sleep anywhere from 2- 3 hours.  You wake up and you play play play till 5pm.  Dinner, bath and bedtime at 6:30pm (on the dot, or you're cranky).

Here is a little video of Ellie boogying in the back seat- excited for her birthday!

Happy FIRST Birthday Ellie Crammit!

Today we celebrated Ellie's first birthday with our playgroup down at South Bank - a man made beach along the river- in the middle of the city.  

planking

..still planking

Its my party and i'll cry if I want to.

I brought the boom box, and Dyllan was dancing for over half the party.  Everyone was entertained by her "moves"- she looked like she was on Spring Break.

More dancing..

Our group.  In our regular spot.

Present time.

She'll eat her grapes first.

Present from her friend Ella.  Too cute.

"no, you gave it to ME"

"you got something in your hair.."

friends swimming

birthday cupcakes, made by Dyllan.  Lemon poppyseed (small ones) and Banana (big ones)

who wants to blow out the candles? Dyllan?  Ok.

this face.  and that bald head.  Gotta love her.

doing what she does best.. snarfing down food.

more presents- Dyllan will help open them.

"um, can i have my present now?"

"im smiling, but really.. give it to me"

Dyllan dancing till the end.  Did. Not. Want. To. Leave.

Moms group Christmas party

I found a great mothers group "Brissy Mums of Kiddies under 5" on meetup.com when we first moved up here. Funny way to meet people- but i gave it a try and im so glad i did!

Lucky for me it was only new when I joined. We have gone from 10 moms to over 60 in the group now. There are about 12 that are regulars.. And some super fun moms- all with kids the same age as Dyllan and Ellie.

Yesterday we had our Christmas party- a bit early cause one of the moms is a photographer and she wanted to do a photoshoot for us all! It was so fun- and I think we got some fun photos. I'll post them when I get them. Here's a peek..

A Quote from Dyllan

We were driving and Dyllan was looking out her window at the clouds.

"Hey mom, look at that cloud. It looks like a baby hippo- just like Ellie"

Ahh Friday

I look forward to Fridays every week. I am really enjoying my weekends now that it's not broken up with working on Saturdays.

Last night Dan finished around 3 so we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and met him for a picnic by the river. It was fun to sit there in the park and watch the ferry do its drop offs of busy people in suits and ties on their way home. The crew teams were out paddling until the sun went down. Dyllan and I met a nice old man with two little dogs who happily sits in the same spot every Friday night working on his painting.

After hanging out by the river we headed back for margaritas and nachos at the local Mexican restaurant. Dyllan insisted on dressing up for her night on the town.. She was quite the spectacle. And loved every minute of flaunting her high heels.

An Original By Marianne

The other day we received a giant care package from Yunny. She packed us all kinds of goodies- from cookies to stickers to a ball of yarn. But my favorite thing was this adorable birthday outfit she made for Ellie.

Not only is it super special because she made it, but it brings back memories of my childhood.

Gowing up, my mom would make everything.. Not only did she have a successful business making spandex and matching bike helmet covers, she also made a good chunk of Sean and I's wardrobes. From matching Hawaiian shirts for Sean and Dad to wear to Disneyland to my relay teams matching swim suits for A Champs swim meet. She made all of our Halloween costumes (Sean remember when you were gonna be a pumpkin - cause she had a pattern sitting around- but didn't have orange fabric- so you were a tomato instead??). She made my Christmas dresses (I still remember hating the poofy short sleeve taffeta dress that made noise every time i moved but had to wear it anyway). She even made my cabbage patch doll and I matching sweat suits- that was so cool. For Christmas one year she made all of us cousins rabbit stuffed animals- the fancy kind with beautiful fabric and long soft ears. She slowed down on the sewing as her career in real estate took off.. But she could and would always make something if there was a need. And fixing and repairing things were her specialty. In fact she and I (I did nothing..) even made roman blinds for Dan and I's first house. We were super thrifty and made them out of sheets.

Gone are the days (I think?) where moms actually make their kids clothes. It's a shame really.. I am still kicking myself for not learning to sew from my ultra talented seamstress of a mother. And yes, it's on my bucket list to learn.. Once I learn to have some patience..

So Yunny, this gift was a very special one. One that won't be leaving our closets.. One that my kids will most certainly have to pass on to their kids.

How fun is it to have something handmade.. With love.