Day 121 - Cake is Important

Tonight we went to Morgana's place for cake and nibbles to celebrate her special birthday, which was actually today. On the way over to Morgana's house tonight, Olivia asked if she could sleep at Aunty 'Gana's house. I was pretty impressed that she wanted to sleep over - I think she has caught the sleeping over bug!
Happy birthday Morgana! Hope you had a lovely second birthday gathering!

Day 120 - Sunday Afternoon Football

This afternoon, we decided to go and watch the local AFL competition. The girls were really excited to go and watch the football with Poppy and Austin. Not that they did a lot of football watching rather they enjoyed running up and down hills, kicking their ball, colouring in, eating and rolling down the hill. We'll have to take them to more games in the future since they had such a great time.

Day 119 - Birthday Fairies

Today we were invited to Kaleigh and Brydie's 4th birthday 'Fairy Party'. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and the girls were very excited to go to the park to celebrate their friend's birthday. They got to dress up as fairy's, decorate wings, play some really fun fairy games and of course delicious cake. A great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Day 118 - A Perfect Reason to Celebrate

Tonight we went out to celebrate Morgana's birthday. It was a perfect reason to send the girls to Jenny's for their first ever sleep over, and of course they loved it. I loved it too. A night out with friends which included dinner, drinks and dancing was just what I needed.

Happy birthday Morgana, I hope you had a wonderful night.

Day 117 - Stitching Again

I am enjoying stitching. It is such a relaxing thing to do while watching the television, or even while procrastinating about completing tasks I really want someone else to do. I have started on the back of my scissor fob and hopefully in the next 2 weeks that will be finished ready for some embellishing at Sue's house in a couple of weekends.

Day 116 - Marching Proudly

Today I marched in the ANZAC Day Service in Queanbeyan with school. I couldn't leave the house without Olivia so she came along and surprisingly she marched along with us. Usually she is very shy and reserved and doesn't like big crowds, but with her friend Ella on one side and me on the other, she marched along proudly with us. I too was very proud of her, it appears in certain situations my shy little baby is becoming a beautiful big girl.

Day 115 - Trimming Time

This afternoon I took the girls to get a haircut. I am amazed at how quickly their hair grows and how long it takes me to decide to book them in for a little trim. The girls are loving going to the hairdressers and watching themselves in the mirror. They love it so much that they like to find their pretend scissors or sometimes tweezers from their Doctor's kits and cut our hair as well.
Here they are, freshly groomed at Vanessa's.

Day 114 - Impressive Reading

It's nothing unusual to see the girls reading books. They have even begun to retell stories from memory. What amazed me today was watching Olivia reading Pamela Allen's Mr McGee and The Big Bag of Bread from the Yellow Pages. Mr McGee is her current favourite character and we must read at least one Mr McGee book before bed.

As you can see she is very happy with herself and her reading.

Day 113 - A Cosy Sunday Afternoon

This afternoon Mel and I treated each other to a birthday afternoon together at Dendy Premium Class Cinema's. We enjoyed the reclining lounges, some warm wedges, warm scones and hot chocolate - a perfect cosy Sunday afternoon. We watched The Lucky One with Zac Efron, watching him, definitely looking a little manly, made it even better.

Thank you Mel for such a wonderful afternoon, looking forward to the next one already!

Day 112 - Playing with Friends at the Park

We met some friends at the park for a play this morning - a long overdue play! It was a lovely Autumn morning the park, the kids played, we chatted, it was perfect! It was also a perfect opportunity to break out my new birthday present and give it a whirl. Shane and the girls bought me a brand new Canon EOS 60D. It is all very new and I am very happy with the beautiful photos it takes.

Day 111 - Happy Birthday Andrew

Today we celebrated Andrew's birthday with dinner and a very cool cake at our place tonight. With a really busy morning - a quick cake turned into a fun lolly filled cake much to Andrew's delight! I was really grateful that Jenny and Sam took the left over cake home - it was very rich and really hard to cut!

Happy Birthday Andrew - we hope you had a fabulous day!

Day 110 - A Special Visitor

Today we were blessed with a quick but very special trip from Aunty Neri. She came down to have lunch with me and ended up spending an afternoon relaxing with all 3 of us, with Olivia sent home with a temperature from daycare. So after a dose of nurofen and a decision that it was a little teething causing the temperature, we went for a walk into town. We enjoyed a baby chino and a muffin. It was really nice to see Olivia being so friendly and holding hands with someone other than me.

Thank you Neri for your visit - we all loved catching up with you. It was even more special that you chose to spend part of your wedding anniversary with us!

Day 109 - A Cup of Tea Please

Ava has become an avid tea drinker - who'd have thought!?  Ava has asked for a cup of tea everyday this week. Luckily the Easter Bunny left a cup for her to have warm drinks in. It's a nice tradition to have a cup of tea together, it has started a little earlier than I had imagined, but lets hope for many more cups of tea together in the future.

Day 108 - My Birthday Portrait

Today it is my birthday. I met Belinda at Art Oven bakery in Manuka for a coffee and some delicious morning tea. Following this we went across to the National Portrait Gallery. We had a wander around the galleries and were very happy to see the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2012 on display (for more information click here) With Belinda and I both interested in photography, we were very keen to wander through. There were some beautiful images on display. I had a few favourite pieces: Mum by Christopher Pearce, No Junk Mail by Juli Balla  and The 70 Year Old Jetty Jumper by Alex Frayne. My favourite was Millie by Louise Whelan.


Outside the exhibit the National Portrait Gallery have set up a corner for people to take their own portraits, with backdrops and props as well. Above is my portrait of Belinda, with a little editing done in Photoshop (no airbrushing!) I am very happy with the result. If you would like to see Belinda's portrait of me, click here)

The afternoon was spent making ganache for the cake to share with my lovely sister in law Meagan whose birthday is also today. Happy birthday Meagan!

Thanks Belinda for a very enjoyable day.

Day 107 - A morning with Cooper

Today the girls and I went to visit Sarah, Brad and Cooper and of course Ava was in love. They had such a great time playing with Cooper and thoroughly enjoyed the delicious morning tea Sarah had made for us. They even enjoyed playing with all of Cooper's toys, more than their own!  I can see a lot of Friday get togethers occurring soon. Thank you Sarah for a wonderful morning together and thanks to Cooper for the smiles, cuddles and laughs!

Day 106 - Dancing with the Kenningham's

I had my photo for today picked out at 8am this morning... however after introducing the girls to Dancing With The Stars tonight, that was quickly changed. They were mesmerised watching the couples dance and singing along to the music. My favourite part was watching them attempt to mimic the dances - particularly when Olivia told Ava to hold her like this. Too funny.

I can see that Sunday nights are going to become 'Dancing with the Kenningham's' evenings. There might be a door charge, but the entertainment value is priceless.

Day 105 - Stitching Day

Today I went to a Stitching day with Sue. I got a bag filled with different stitching creations to complete. I chose the Scissor Fob as I thought it was going to be the simplest - and I was probably right, I just didn't realise how long it would take to get this far.

Sue begun to stitch a needle roll. It looks very good. I might need some more lessons from her how to complete that one. Hopefully by the time we catch up again on the weekend to stitch - I will be a little further finished - and hopefully ready to be taught how to do the needle roll.

Thank you Sue for a lovely day - I am extremely glad I came along and am looking forward to the next one already.

Day 104 - Leila

Today we had a play date with Leila and Monique. The girls were very excited this morning and couldn't wait to give her lots of cuggles. They were very patient and waited for her to wake up - I am surprised they did not attempt to wake a sleeping Leila. They were both very proud to hold Leila. I know this photo it looks like Leila is about to eat Ava's hand - but really she wasn't. Ava was stroking her cheek and her hand moved when she turned her head to look at me.

Thanks Monique and Meagan for a lovely catch up this morning, we'll have to make it a more regular catch up!

Day 103 - Waiting time

Today I downloaded the Snapseed App to use - after many recommendations from Belinda. I thought today would be a good day to play with it as I had to take my mum to the hospital for an outpatient's appointment. So while I was waiting, I was discreetly taking photos of things to edit using snap seed.
These waiting room chairs would more than likely have been used back in the 70's - so I thought this a very appropriate filter to put on the photo! I look forward to editing some more photos with Snapseed.

Day 102 - Quality Aunty Time

Today I took Austin, Andrew and Madison out to lunch and the movies to spend some quality time with them. We went to APK in Woden for lunch followed by watching 'Pirates! Band of Misfits' at the movies. The kids seemed to enjoy the movie - I wasn't too sure, and could have had a nap half way through. To finish the day together we went and had a hot chocolate and milkshakes with Poppy.

Hopefully next time there will be a more interesting movie to keep me entertained as well.

Day 101 - An eagerly awaited parcel

I received my beautiful new Macbook Pro today with it's sleek aluminium casing and beautiful black back lit keys I am officially in love. It is so much prettier not to mention faster than my old Macbook. Now that my computer is here, I can get back into doing work for school without having to delete files to create a new one!

Day 100 - Cheesecake decadence

Today we caught up with Julie, Les, Jen, Jodi, Brett and Cohen for an Easter lunch. It was great to catch up, sit and have a chat while the kids played. I made a Chocolate cheesecake to enjoy after lunch. It certainly didn't look the same as the one on the cover, but I think it looked pretty good. It tasted divine, very rich and decadent. Certainly filled with over 200g of dark chocolate it certainly is a dessert for a sweet tooth.

Day 99 - Happy Easter!

We started off our day with an Easter egg hunt at Jenny and Sam's place. The kids looked for eggs which  the Easter bunnies strategically hid in the backyard. The girls happily found eggs along with their cousins Austin, Andrew and Madison and filled our basket full of chocolate goodness from the Easter Bunny. We followed the hunt with a beautiful bacon and egg breakfast cooked by Shane and Sam.

The girls certainly enjoyed plenty of chocolate today and with the bags full they received from family, they are going to enjoy it for a long time to come!

Day 98 - An Evening with Friends

Tonight we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Teresa's house with the Duve and Haddock families. It is really nice to get together with such lovely like minded people. The kids big and small seemed to have a wonderful time together. Kaleigh and Ava were particularly friendly with lots of hugs and kisses for each other all night. Olivia and Ava also enjoyed chasing David and Jules around for a little while.

We enjoyed pizza and a delicious Flourless Chocolate Orange cake for dessert. Thanks Teresa for having us all for a delicious dinner - we are all looking forward to the next dinner together.

Day 97 - A Good Friday

Today is Good Friday as well as being Josephine's birthday.

As usual we went to Myrrha's place for lunch together and as usual there was a great spread of food, good chit chat and lots of laughs from the kids. We all had a lovely time, the girls really enjoyed playing with their cousins. They are even more excited that they will get to play with them again on Sunday.

Day 96 - Easter Party

Today the girls have their Easter party at daycare. They were so excited this morning all they wanted to do was wear their hat to school. It was a little difficult to explain to Ava that if she wore it all day it wouldn't last until the party - luckily Jenny has to deal with that problem longer than I do!

They had a great time at their party and were even surprised when Shane turned up at their party. We didn't tell them that we were coming along, just incase we couldn't get there.

Day 95 - Home grown tomatoes

Shane's dad gave us a few tomato plants a while ago for our garden. With dodgy weather there hasn't been much hope for them to turn red. Finally we have some turning red - and picking them before the bugs get to them! I can't wait to taste them. By the look of how many other tomatoes we have growing, there might even be some to share.

Day 94 - Easter Hats

This afternoon we made Easter Hats for the girls to wear to their Easter party on Thursday. They picked out the flowers and the sparkles and rabbits to put on their hat and told us where to stick them - they stuck the stickers - I wasn't ready for them to use the glue, I didn't want to take the risk of hands being stuck to something they shouldn't be. I can't wait to see them with their hats on for their party!

Day 93 - Published

Finally! My Project 365 Blog Book arrived. After Belinda's arrived last week, I was eagerly awaiting mine! It is quite a nice feeling to have it published in a book and makes all the hard work from last year worth it. I can't wait to see what 2012's book looks like. I am hoping they make a few changes to the formatting of the book. Time will only tell.

Day 92 - The end of sleep ins for awhile - It's not an April Fools Joke!

Last night saw the end of daylight savings - which means that it is the end of sleeping in until 7am, at least for a little while. This morning the girls padded down to our room at 6 - far too early if you ask me. I don't really think 7am is a sleep in, but in comparison to the early days, it surely is. Hopefully this early rising doesn't last for very long, it will soon be too cold to get out of bed.