Spending...

Thought I had better fill you in on our free gift card spending!! There were quite a few things I would have really really liked to get... but none of them were practical to pack in a suit case and take with us... so I was a little sad about that! We went to Target first and the girls each picked out a DVD to buy each other for Christmas and they had fun doing that. I then went and got a few things off lay-by in Myer which I purchased at the big late night shopping sale a few weeks ago. (A few books and little things for Christmas presents). They over charged me so I ended up getting some cash back... which was great as I wanted a new wallet - didn't need one, but saw one in Polly that I really liked ages ago... so I took the cash in there and was very excited to find my wallet still in there and on sale!! (had to pay a little extra here.... but very excited about my purchase!)

 

A few more days went by and we still didn't really know what to do with the rest of the money... Mick really really wanted to get an ipod.... but we sort of thought it was a bit of a want and not really a need (like my wallet!!) so we put it off for a while.... until we came up with the idea that we could put all our songs and all our photos on it to take away - then we wouldn't need to pack any cd's or photos! So it was now a need and not just and want! So we went and got one.... which was pretty exciting! Mick was very happy and it was nice to have a present on Christmas Day because we had decided not to get each other anything because our trip is costing plenty enough!!! 

So that's what we spent our lucky $500.00 on!!! I think we did good!! 

One Month to go....

Yes it's true... we only have 1 month until we are out of here! Well that's if our Visas arrive, other wise we might be around for a few more weeks! And we all know what luck the Carmichaels seem to have when waiting for a Visa! 

Can't believe we are really going to be gone this time next month... and I haven't even packed 1 thing yet!!!  Very scary! 

My Myer vouchers arrived today.... so I was VERY excited.... especially to find that they are not just Myer vouchers but they are Coles Group & Myer which means I can use them at Myer, Target, Kmart, Coles and best of all Liquor Land!!! So I feel very happy about that... think I'll spend most of them at Liquor Land though. 

Still don't know what I'm going to get with them... there are just too many things I would like!! What would you buy??

Now At Peace

So many memories will stay with me forever, we love you Aunty Shell. Thank you for your kindness, your love, your faith, your courage, your humour, and your great example. Thank you for giving me 4 wonderful cousins who I love dearly. Thinking of you Mel, Jac, Dean & Ange.  

".... whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day...." Mosiah 23:22 

".... For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never ending happiness. O remember, remember these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it." Mosiah 2:41

"... Believe in Him and endure to the end, which is life eternal." 

2 Nephi 33:4

Like mother like child

Also like father..... but that's not how the saying goes!!! So anyway, I just wanted to point out that I didn't actually rearrange anything from our lovely Christmas tree! Our kids just obviously have many of their mother and fathers OCD traits!!! Admittedly they did more dancing and singing and playing with the one bit of tinsel we own then actually putting stuff on the tree - but what they did hang they did a pretty good job of!!! I did remove a few very old paint chipped foam balls that got put on by mistake, but other than that - the kids did a pretty good job with finding a good place for the decorations they picked out!! But yes... Mick and I did do alot of the decorating!! 

Thanks for all the comments on our tree though everyone - it's nice being able to share what your tree looks like because usually we are all so busy at this time of year we don't actually get around to see many other peoples trees. 

Our tree has come along way in 5 years!!! Our first Christmas together our Tree was decorated with 12 Gold Baubles, 12 Red Bauble and 10 small stars from chickenfeed. Add a little every year and it starts getting quite full! I love it!! Although nothing competes with a real Christmas tree - which is what I grew up with. The day we would go out looking for one - best day ever!!! Pity they were usually dead by Christmas though!!

Here are some snaps I took today just before we were heading out!!

 

Season for JOY

1st of December means Christmas Tree time for us... the kids were so excited! Christmas is such a special time of year - for so many reasons. I love getting excited about all the decorations, the music, the gifts etc... But I hope I will take time to remember the true meaning of Christmas this year, amongst all the glitter and glammer! Because of Christmas we can feel real Joy!  

Destination...

After about a 20 minute drive we arrived at the top of a hill at this old Anglican church ruin. It was apparently built for the convicts and a perfect setting for some family photos. 

Next time we are all together, but with no one missing, (and who knows when that will be)  we are coming back for sure!

This last one is at great Bay... the kids are calling out to Grandad, Aunty Elle and Bek who are in the boat fishing for our tea!

Thanks again Leigh... you make us all look really good!!! 

So I just looked up a bit of information on the old Church up there... quite interesting! Doesn't say anything about convicts.... so either that came later or Bill has his story mixed up!! hehe 

Here is the link .

A Great Day with Family... and yes, we did miss you Mum, Laura, Mark and Kobe!

On Saturday we headed over to Bruny Island for the day. Dad was given his much awaited birthday present and then we went on a drive up through the back of Murry Field. 

Can't believe we have never been on this drive before - considering we have been coming to Murry Field for as long as I can remember. We have been up through the paddocks roo shooting a few times, but never during the day and never to this magical place we arrived at yesterday.

Here is Dad surrounded by the grand kids opening his present. 

The views along the way were just amazing - never as good in photos of course, but being on top of a hill where you can see water on both sides of you is something very special.

We nearly had a break down... but it turned out to be a false alarm!

As for this photo.... sheep are dumb!

These photos were taken by Elle

Once we arrived at our destination,  our last photo shoot before we leave began.... but I'll have to upload those photos later. For a preview head over to our photographers blog.... The Carmichael Story! 

10 Year Highschool Reunion

On Friday night the kids went and stayed with Aunty Elle and Bek so that we could go to my 10 year reunion at The Duke. I'm so glad it's over! I thought the day was never going to come as it feels like I have been organising it forever! It was great and I had a really really good night... even though I felt like being sick at about 6pm (from nerves!!) Once I got there all the nerves went away though and I just enjoyed it. It was  so good to catch up with everyone after 10 years. We had a great turn out and I think everyone had a good time! 

 Here I am with my 2 best friends from highschool... Kelly and Marni (the photographer at this stage was not doing do well!)

And me with my sister-in-law and highschool friend Katrina and Kel!!!! 

I'm still recovering from the very late night... as we didn't get home until about 1am and then I couldn't sleep... so I ended up watching Prison Break until about 3am!!! 

We had an early morning too because of an open home and a trip planned for Bruny Island! 

Love This Place

There are lots of things I LOVE about living in Tassie... but there are also a few things I can't stand.... and they mostly involve planes!!!

I think that it is ridiculous that they can charge you for excess baggage when you are leaving the state to catch an international flight... (or coming off an international flight trying to get home!!) It's not really like you have a choice!?! So frustrating... 

Anyway... the other thing isn't really the airlines fault... and I'm not really sure who we can blame... but this morning Mick and I got up at 4am to catch a 6am flight to Melbourne, once there we caught the sky bus into the city and got a bacon and egg McMuffin, which was close to the main highlight of the day for me!! Because nothing was open just yet we sat around doing some people watching until  the clock struck 10. It was then time for our appointment at the British Consul General - which involved placing our passports and visa applications under the hole on the counter, getting our fingers scanned (which is a little freaky) and a photo taken - all of which took no more than 3 minutes. (2 minutes for me was spent trying to figure out which was my right hand!!).  Then we were done, a ride on the tram and back on the sky bus ready to catch our 11.55am flight home. What a day... and I won't mention how much this little exercise cost because I would rather not think about it! Aaaagggghhhh!!

Our lives were made so so so much easier though because we didn't have to take  the kids and Ange kindly looked after them for us from Tuesday night until we got back today. THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Getting up at 4am is bad enough - without kids to get ready as well! I think Ange must be ready for Mum to come back now - with all the baby sitting she has been doing for us!! 

 It was such a beautiful day today too - and I was too tired to even enjoy it. Mick had to go straight to work when we got back so I picked the kids up and came home. Lani and I had a relaxing afternoon doing Christmas craft together while Emily slept. The countdown is on now until we get to put the Christmas tree up... I can't wait!! It's nearly as exciting as counting down the days until Christmas - those last few days of November!  Can't wait to see everyone's Christmas trees on their blogs!  

Oh.... and I forgot about the main highlight of the day for me... it was seeing the  Myer Windows... all decorated for Christmas! It was awesome. I was going to get some photos and video to show, but that didn't happen! I wished Leilani and Emily were there to have a look, it was pretty cool!  Still didn't make the trip worth it though - can't believe we had to go all the way to Melbourne just to get our fingers scanned and photos taken! Love this place!!

You Have Won....

Don't you just love hearing those words!! Do you enter competitions much? Mick ALWAYS does and I'm always telling him off for wasting his time doing it!!! (hehe) He enters everything he can... well he tries to - I will often find expired tokens, wrappers and vouchers on his desk that he was meaning to enter but didn't get around to. I just think it's such a waste of time because you never win... 100's and 1000's of people enter them and its never you who wins. And I always feel ripped off when I see someone else's name come up to say they have won!! This year during the "Tour de  France" Mick entered to win a Bike and a trip to next years race... we were so excited and I must admit I did get my hopes up a little and think - 'well you never know!!' We stayed up the night they announced it - waiting to see our name, only to be disappointed once again!!! 

Stupid competitions..... until you win one!!!!! 

My luck has been quite good this year actually - seeings as though I am an 'anti competition enter-er!' It started out with winning something off Marnies blog - I thought that was very exciting! Then I won an Easter Basket from Centerpoint (I do enter things every now and again.... obviously!!) and then last week I received a phone call from my place of employment (I do paid surveys online - so not really a job, but it sounds cool if I write that) to let me know that I had won $500.00 in Myer Vouchers!!!

 

Everyone who did this certain survey went in the draw!! I was SO excited! There was 1 x $1000.00 winner 10 x $500.00 winners and 40 x $100.00 winners!! 

WOOOO WHOOOO!! 

How exciting is that!!! Now I just have to decided what to spend them on.... such a hard choice!!!!!

This is the Easter basket I won... and also why I am so fat! 

 

Sometimes it pays to see a Doctor

I'm not really one to run off to the doctor unless I think it's really necessary... I'm happy to go if I think they will give us some drugs... but I don't like going only to be told it will pass in due time! Anyway, by Wednesday Emily wasn't getting any better, and was starting to look quite uncomfortable, she didn't sleep very well Tuesday night and was breathing like she was in pain... so I thought I had better get her in to see the Doc! Turns out she has quite a bad Chest Infection - So I was very glad that I took her in. She hasn't been coughing at all though - so it was a bit of a surprise that that's what the problem was. All makes sense now though! About an hour after her first dose of antibiotics (no kidding) she was SO much better. I couldn't believe it actually! She still isn't 100% but it's so good to see her happy again. She really hasn't been herself the poor thing. 

Last night Mick took Leilani swimming, Emily was most upset she had to stay behind - she had even put her bathers on over her clothes! But she was happy when Lani let her try on her new goggles! 

This picture cracks me up so much.... words can't describe this look!   

Leilani was so excited that Daddy bought her some pink goggles... she wouldn't try them on for a photo though... so I will have to get one on our next swimming trip. 

I think we might be back at the Doctors tomorrow now too with Leilani, she was burning up before bed and was curled up in a blanket saying she was freezing! At least we know what's going on this time.

Busy Busy Busy!

We have had such a busy weekend - I feel glad that it is over! 

Friday morning was spent cleaning the house and mowing the lawn and in the afternoon I picked Mick up from work early and we got a little bit of Christmas shopping done while Lani played at Aunty Elles. Friday evening was spent folding and ironing about 5 loads of washing. I had a pretty busy week too so I got a little behind with things. Luckily Mick helped me iron otherwise I would have been going until 2am! 

Up early for Brice and Bec's breakfast wedding reception at the Cascade Gardens. They are getting married on Friday in Melbourne so they had a bit of a gathering beforehand. It was really nice. Back home by 11.45 am to see how our open home went - we had an interested couple back for their second look and they have organised another look next week to show their Mother. So that is a little promising - but we won't get too excited!! 

We then went and picked the kids up from Grandad and found out Emily was not really being herself. Very quiet and doppy for most of the morning. We then had to go and pick the cake up for the Seminary and Institute Graduation along with a stop at the shops for some fruit. 

While all this was going on - Laura was in labour and ended up in theatre having a C section. And  Kobe Mark was finally out after quite a long and stressful labour!  

Both Mick and I were starting to get a little stressed by evening time because I had a sacrament talk to prepare and he still had a few things to organise for a training meeting tomorrow and the graduation tomorrow night. Dinner, baths and bedtime for the kids and preparing we did. 

Sunday morning Mick left early for Glen Huon ward while I tried to finalise my talk and keep  the kids happy. I was thankful when Emily went to sleep at 10.30am.

Dad and Elle picked us up for church and Mick arrived just as I started my talk! (He's lucky!)

Emily wasn't looking so good during sacrament meeting and was getting a bit of a fever. Afterwards she was crying and sounded in pain so Mick took us home. He had to be back at the chapel at 4.15 for song practice. Elle and Dad brought Leilani home and cooked us a yummy dinner while I got the supper ready for the graduation. Emily slept on and off and would wake with a real high temperature each time. 

After I got back from the graduation, Dad said Emily had just woken up again, she looked a little sad and sorry for herself and we wondered what was wrong with her - ?? 

I was packing up ready to get the girls home, when Emily vomited all over the floor. The poor little thing. (Don't worry mum - the smell will be gone by the time you get home!!)

She slept pretty well last night - only woke up at 4am for some more panodol and went back to sleep. She had a spurt of energy this morning and wanted some breakfast, she a had a bit of a play and it was SO good to see her smiling again. She's back on the couch now, not feeling so good again... so I guess we will wait and see what happens next. 

I'm starting to feel a little sick myself - but I think it's in my head - I keep smelling the vomit and I really really don't want to get sick!!! 

Little Emily this morning...

I'm feeling heaps excited about going to England next year - and I'm starting to get impatient about getting over to see Laura, Mark and little Kobe. I do know that it is going to be very hard next year though - without my family around to help me. I'm so thankful that they are always willing to help out and look after the kids for us, and I really appreciate it every time someone has the kids for me - even if its just while I mow the lawns!! 

Where's Emily?

When you can't find Emily for a while - just head to the bathroom - she will most likely be in there checking herself out....

And wouldn't you be to if you looked like this....

Ahhhh.... she makes us laugh!!!

 Shame about the dummy in her mouth.... she is becoming very addicted! Think it's time for the dummy to go in the chook pen.... well, that's where Dad chucked ours when we were little and we seemed to get over it!! We used the same tactic with Lani - she put hers in the rubbish bin and watched the Garbage truck come and take it away! Worked really well - she waved goodbye and everything!! 

Think we will give Emily until we get to England cause the dummy might be handy on the plane!!! Then it's bye byes!

Little cool cat....

And big cool cat! Look at that pose!!! And look at that skirt she got out of the 'to be ironed' basket!!!!!!! lol

A Mighty Extension

Dad... I dug a hole!

.... It's filling with water!

(sorry, just a few lines from The Castle) 

So today Elle and I did some sawing, drilling and nailing... and we did a mighty fine job too! 

Last week I went to Mighty Mitre 10 to get some fence extensions because my Wisteria is getting a little too excited and has no where to go! The fence extensions will also add a little more privacy from the other side of the fence so I was quite excited to finally have them!

We were meant to put them up on Saturday, but the weather wasn't all that good and we were feeling a little lazy and thought a quiet day inside sounded more fun... so the fence extensions stayed on the ground! 

Anyway... so today was the day. I knew I couldn't do it by myself (well, I probably could of but that's another story!) so I planned to just stop by and see what Elle was doing and then use my magical powers to lure her over here under false pretensions . It worked like a charm and I had her over here in no time - then we got straight to work... 

First we had to measure and saw the legs to he right height...

As you can see we are no amateurs!!! It was the real deal here! 

We then had to get them on the fence in right place - which is really what I needed the help with! Although - as you can see Elle was very handy in the drilling area too!  

I was really the one doing all the work - Elle was just posing for the camera! She's good at making it look real though huh!

Nailing was quite difficult actually, but Elle made it look easy!! (and fun... by the look of this picture!!)

A few hours later and my fence was extended!! The wisteria got a little attacked in the process but its a tough old bugger so I'm sure she'll be right! 

Can't wait to see it covering the whole thing... well I probably won't be around for that... but my imagination is pretty good, so I'll just use that!

The purple flowers are beautiful when they are out - but I kind of like the bright green leaves just as much!

Thanks for your help Elle!

And just for you El....

This is Elle trying to Sunbake AND saw at the same time!!! Looks a bit relaxed doesn't she!