Our daily lives...

... for not posting that is...

I just plain keep fogetting to post here. Some days I remember and then get called away, some days I just plain can't be bothered, and the rest I just forget.

Hopefully now that I've got a nice design for my blog that I like, it might be enough to keep me coming back, either that or my darling friend Skip will give me a kick up the bum if I don't come in often enough.

So much has happened since July when I last wrote on here. Richard's cousin Jenny came to vistit for a night. She was driving back to QLD from Perth, and decided to come spend a night with us. It was lovely to see her, even if it was only for 10 hours (most of that time spent sleeping.) But we did manage to get out the following morning and quickly show her around before she had to head off again.



September was Father's Day. Mum decided not to go to Adelaide for the day, so the 4 of us and Mum went out for a lovely drive and picnic lunch along the way. We stopped at a lovely park at Strathalbyn, then we went on to Murray Bridge. While we were at Murray Bridge, we went to see the "Bunyip", which is an Aboriginal Dreamtime Story. Both boys were absolutely terrified of this creature.




Then in late September the girls came for 10 days. It was wonderful to see them again. The last time they had been here was January when they went home after the Christmas holidays. So it had been a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time between visits. We made the most of them being here, including a 2nd Father's Day for Richard (Being that the girls arrived 2 weeks after Father's Day, so I made him hold on for his main present), going to Murray Bridge to see the bunyip, again, lots of park trips, a walk over Granite Island, and seeing James at Kindy.




During the winter months, we've also spent a lot of time Whale Watching. That's just ONE of the perks to living in Victor Harbor. Basham's Beach this year was a favourite spot for the whales, and on most of the days they were only about 20-40metres off shore. They were so close you could almost reach out and touch them. Whales are such amazing creatures, Mum and I would spend hours and hours just sitting and watching, waiting for a fin or tail to come up out of the water. Every so often off in the distance you would see one or two jumping in and out of the water.

Life is pretty hectic now as well. I'm in the throws of organizing my 30th Birthday party, which is going to be in Early December, plus the girls arrive on the 12th of December for Christmas this year. Plus James has lots on over the next few weeks with Kindy activities, so life is never boring here in VH

... well as the title says "THE ASHES" have started!! The holy grail of the Cricketing world!!!! I've been waiting years for this battle to commence!!! Mind you I didn't get to watch much of it last night as Rich had the TV on for yet another Michael Jackson special. Then by the time I got the TV at midnight, I was way too tired to stay up and watch it. But tonight it will be on from 7:30pm!!!!!

Yesterday was my baby's birthday... He turned 4!! I can't believe how old he's getting.. He starts kindy next term.. :( :( :(

Anyway we had a small party for him with my Mum, Grandma and brothers. And as usual he got totally spoilt. My brother in particular spoilt him rotten. Bought him tonnes of Transformer toys, which as you can imagine are his most favourite toys right now. He also got a small trampoline, a batman car, a kite, new PJ's, and a few other smaller gifts.

We're having friends over on Friday for cake again for his birthday, so much for my weight loss attempts. hehe.

Here are a few pics of his day....

... James that is.. He's turning 4 tomorrow!!! I can't believe how quickly the last 4 years have gone. We're just going to have a small family lunch, Mum, Granny, and both my brothers. Will be a nice occasion.

I guess I'll be back tomorrow night with some photos of my boys special day.

We've finally been approved for a house in Victor Harbor, well Encounter Bay to be exact. I can't wait. We move in on Wednesday, 20th!!! So only a few more nights in this place being cramped and squashed.

Apart from that though, not much has been happening.

I'm back on my weight loss kick, which this time round, is really going well. I've been going to Weight Watchers for the past 3 weeks, and since I started 3 weeks ago, I've lost a total of 2.6kgs. I'm so ecstatic about that. It works out to be about 1.3kgs a week lost. Which is really really good for me.

Mother's Day was last weekend, and I had a lovely day/weekend. We had Mum and Granny over on Saturday night for a lovely Roast dinner, then Sunday morning Rich and the boys did breakfast in bed for me, and about 2 mins after that Mum rang, asking if I wanted to go to the Casino for breakfast. Of course I said yes, a yummy cooked breakky, who would say no!!! So off I went for that and then came home and had a lovely relaxing day. The boys slept for hours, and Rich just stayed in our room, so that I had some time on my own. It was lovely.

I've spent this week catching up with friends before we move. Thursday I went over to Regency park, and caught up with an old family friend, then today I went to Munno Para to see Skip. It was sooo good to finally catch up with her, it's been about one and a half years since we last managed to get together. We are just soo busy these days. Her little girl Milly is sooo gorgeous, and is growing up so quickly, last time I saw her she was only a week or two old. After we had a coffee we went over to spotlight, and had a ball looking through all the material that they had on special. I found some really nice stuff there that I'm going to use to try and make a quilt for one of the girls. I'm really hoping that it will work out.

On Sunday this weekend, we have some friends coming over. It's Bec's birthday tomorrow, and so I invited them over on Sunday for cake and coffee for her birthday. It'll probably be the last time that we catch up with them for a while, as they obviously live in Adelaide and we'll be moving. So I'm hoping that it will be a nice afternoon, and I get to see her gorgeous little girl Savannah again. She's almost 2 months old.

Well that's about it, I'd better go and get dinner ready for everyone, Rich has just gone out to work for a few hours, he's doing the Footy over at Norwood tonight, so that's a bit different for him.

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!!!

I know it's a bit late... We spent a week at Mum's. Went last week on Wed, and came home today. We went early because it was my brothers birthday, so we went down for the day, and just thought it would be easier to stay, rather than drive home, and then come back on Friday.

The boys had so much fun while we were there. They didn't want to come home today. Both of them carried on and carried on.

Easter was great. We went for a lovely drive/picnic on Good Friday, found a nice little market in a place called Meadows. Easter Saturday, my brother and grandmother came, and Easter Sunday was spent pigging out on chocolate and what ever else was available.

Will pop back later to add some pics of the boys.

Well James is just getting too clever for his own good...

Tonight he was playing around with Harrison's magna doodle, drawing pictures for me. So I thought I'd draw his name on there for him to copy.. Well the following is what he came up with....



Now we just need to work on the M E S!!!! But he's getting there... After months of him carrying on and telling me he can't do it, I now know that he can...

We took the kids to the park this afternoon just to get them out of the house. I was hoping to get to the Clipsal 500 V8 supercar race, but the tickets that Mum was hoping on never eventuated. So because we were all together today, Richard thought it would be nice to take the kids to the park.

James asked to go to the same park that we went to yesterday with Bec and Hunter.. (I took my camera, but had left the memory card in the computer - silly me.) So Richard made some sandwhiches and off we went.

It was a lovely day, and to our surprise there was no one at the park. So after some lunch, the boys went over to the play ground, and had the entire park to themselves. They had soo much fun.

Of course everytime I went to get a picture of them, they would turn their heads, that was until I told James, that Nanny and Grand-dad were going to see these pictures. Well that was it, he was posing for the camera at every opportunity.

Well I'd better get going, a certain little poser of mine (aka James) has just fallen asleep on the floor in the loungeroom, after telling me that he wasn't tired and wasn't going to have a sleep today...

Today was Adelaide Cup day, so we had a public holiday, not that it meant much to us, as Rich still had to work last night/this morning.

So that we could allow Rich to sleep a bit longer and properly today, I took the boys down to the beach so that we could walk along the sand. They had a great time running along the beach, and jumping in and out of the water.

As usual I took a few photos of them.

I think I have finally come up with a theme for our HUGE birthday bash at the end of the year.. Kristen, Phoebe and I are combining our birthdays this year (being that they are ALL big events in our family) and having a big big big party..

So after a lot of thought and change of minds, I'm thinking of doing a

MASQUERADE BALL type party!!!! For those of you who know me really well, you'll know that I've got an obsession with ball gowns, and have ALWAYS loved those type of clothes. So I'm 99% sure that that's the party we'll have... Although knowing me as well, I may change my mind before then... I have until June to make a final decision, as that's when I'll start getting out the save the date cards, and giving people an idea as to what kind of party it will be!! :) :) :) :) :)

Just thought I'd show off a few new pics of the boys..

We went to Bunnings on Thursday and let the boys have a play. It's easier to let them play at the playground there than it is to take them to a park outside in the heat/wet.

While we were there I took a few photos, I can get the boys individually at the moment, but they will not let me get ANY of them together.. AARRGGHHH... I just want a nice shot of the two of them. Hopefully I can get one soon!!! :)

My weight loss is going slowly but really well. I've lost 2kg since the beginning of the year, I know that it doesn't sound like much, but I've been taking it slowly, to make sure that I'm doing it properly. Although having said that I'm going to up the anti so to speak for a while. To get to the weight I want to be by my birthday, I need to loose at least 10kg every 3 months, and at the moment I'm 8kg off the mark. But I'll get there, I've started using the Wii Fit once again, I started doing with that what I thought I would, got sick of it, and it was just sitting there gathering dust. So now I'm back on it every 2nd day. :) And feel much better for it.. :) :) :)

Rich is doing well... Seems to be doing more overtime the moment. I'm not overly happy about it, as it's cutting into our family time, but there's not much I can do about that. Once we move, he'll be able to give this job up, but can't really do that until such date.

We're heading out to Victor Harbor on Tuesday to have a look at a few more places, and hopefully they're what we're looking for. We need at least a 3 bedroom place, with a BIG backyard, after being in this place for the past 6 months the boys need somewhere HUGE to play. I think that's why they LOVE going to Mum's so often, because they can play out the back, and we don't know where they are most of the time.

Well better get going.. Have a bit of work to do before lunch.

....I think they have hit Harrison with a vengeance. That combined with James teaching him bad things is making for an extremely fun household. Night times at the moment are the worst!! Harrison has all of a sudden decided that he needs to sleep in our room. Last night I spent 3 hours trying to get him to sleep, only to give in in the end because I was getting tired and agitated, not to mention he had woken James up and it was 11pm.

Harrison's favourite word at the moment is NO!!!!! Ask him to do anything, and his response is always no!! I know that it's just the age that he is, but come on, enough is enough. He seems to be worse than James was at this age!! I guess that's the joys of having an older brother!!!

We had a bit of a scare with him yesterday due to him being defiant. Both James and Harrison have taken to jumping on my couch and Rich's recliner. I discourage it at all costs, but there are times that they just don't listen or do it while I'm not looking. I turned my back for all of 2 second, and Harrison started screaming. I looked around and there he was laying face up on top of the vacuum cleaner. From what I can understand he was standing on the arm of the couch and slipped backwards, landing with the back of his head on a pointy piece of the vacuum cleaner hose. It took a good 20 minutes to calm him down. He'll have a bit of a sore head today, and had a nice egg to show for his efforts. You'd think that it would teach him something, but I'm guessing that he's forgotten all about it, as he's back jumping and climbing on the couch...

Now they've decided to jump on top of each other and kick each other. I guess I'd better get off here and try and separate them. Ah the joys of being a Mum.

slack slack slack.. That's the only way I can explain my long overdue absence again. I get on top of blogging and then I seem to forget all of a sudden again, once again it's been 5 weeks. So that means that this will probably be my first and last enrty for February..

Well as you can see, I've changed this blog around a bit. Made it a little nicer, I wasn't overly happy with the last design, but knowing me, I will end up changing it again sometime soon.

Not much has been going on in Adelaide lately. Rich is constantly working, and I'm still at home looking after the boys. Although they are growing. Some days I get to the point that I've had enough, but I think we all do at some point.

I was laying on the couch the other day (was really tired after having a rough night with Harrison) when I closed my eyes for about 2 mins. Next thing I knew James was putting his sleeping bag over me and telling me that he loves me, and that he will see me in the morning. (we have a night-time routine here, that when he goes to bed, I say to him, "I love you, Good night, see you in the morning.") So of course he copied what I said!! :) It was soo cute.

Harrison's now putting sentences together, his favourites at the moment are... Mummy where are you??... Mummy take me to Nanny's now... Mummy James is hurting me... and.. Mummy we go car now... He's such a little cutie...

My weight loss is going well.. I've lost 2.7kgs in 5 weeks.. Not huge amounts, but enough, which I'm happy with.

Well must be off.. Hope everyone reading this is well.
xoxoxo

I finally decided to bite the big one and got my hair cut (first time in 13 months) and a proper colour put through it. I kept with the red theme that I often go, but went a lot darker.. I'm really impressed with it, and everyone that I talk to or see, tells me that it suits me and they all love it!! :)
So I'm thinking that it was well worth the money that I spent on it... Maybe next time I won't wait as long between cuts.

We had planned on going into the botanical gardens today for a picnic and some photos, but just as we were about to head out the door, Mum rang to remind me that there was something going on in the city to do with the Tour Down Under, so thought it might be hard to find a park. We ended up going to Bonython Park. I hadn't been there in about 15 years (I was amazed when I worked out how long it had been) Last time I went was for a Family reunion on Dad's side before he left, and that's been 14 years this year.

The kids had soo much fun there. Playing on the playground, going over to the Eskimo totem pole, and then down to the river to see the ducks. Mum, Granny and Richard came with us as well, and we all had a great time. While we were there, we tried to get some photos of us all as a family, but as usual Harrison wouldn't co-operate. I wish just once, that we could get some nice family photo's of us all, where all 4 kids were looking at the camera.

We're supposed to be going to Warrawong Wildlife Santuary today, but I'm not sure if we're going or not, the kids don't seem too overly enthused at the idea, so I'll just wait and see...

Just a couple of photo's from the New Year's Eve celebrations last night at Elder park.
We caught a train into the city with a friend and her little boy. We had a great time, and then left after the 9pm fireworks.

Ok so I thought while I had 10 mins spare, that I'd pop up my New Year's Resolutions. This year rather than putting down HEAPS of things, I'm just going to focus on 2 or 3 BIG ones..

1.) Is to loose at least 30kg before my 30th Birthday in December
2.) To blog at least once a week here, and to track my weight loss on a new blog.
3.) To follow Skip's DG's organizer and keep on top of my housework.

I think they're the one's that I'm going to focus on more this year.

Ok so I'm a day late, but I was soo busy yesterday I didn't get time to get on here..

My day started out with the girls trying to make pancakes for me, but I ended up having to make them. And due to the recipe they used the pancakes were very rubbery, (so rubbery in fact that Kristen wouldn't even eat them) So after cooking the pancakes and bacon, I got back into bed, and the kids bought it all in to me, including my presents. I got very spoilt this year, I got a Wii Fit - to go with the Wii that I got for Christmas, and some gorgeous turquioze jewellery - a necklace, some earrings and a bracelet. I LOVE everything.

I also got some lovely cards and money from Rich's family in the UK and Toowoomba, and the money that I got from the cards, went into buying the Wii Fit as well.

The last night we had a BBQ for dinner, we invited a few friends over. It was lovely, Bec, Nigel and Hunter came, as well as Suzanne, Josh and Aerin. Mum, Granny and Paul also came.

I can't believe that in less than 1 year now I will be 30!!! that's just come up WAYYYYYYYY too fast for my liking.

Just a few photos to finish off with... Hope you all have a wonderful New Years Eve. Will be back tomorrow with my resolutions for the new year... xoxoxo

I'm bored.. Can you tell.. I'm sitting here at the computer, typing up a post which probably won't make sense. LMAO!!!

Rich is outside on the phone to our best friends, Phoebe's in the bedroom singing and playing with her Christmas presents, and Kristen, James and Harrison are outside kicking the ball around. I guess I should be out there with them, but James just tells me to "Go away mummy!!!" So I'm safer in here. hehe..

The girls arrived last night, at 6pm. Because Rich had to work, Mum picked the boys and I up and we went to the Airport. I couldn't get over how much Kristen had grown up from the last time we saw her. She's not a little girl anymore, she's becoming a teenager.. OUCH that's scarey.. Then after the airport we went back to Mum's for something to eat, a game or two of bowling on the Wii and then went down to the Brewery to check out the light display they have down there. I know it's the same every year, but I LOVE heading down there to see them year after year. We got home about 10pm, watched a little TV and then went to bed.

As I'm sitting here, I'm looking straight at my Wii Fit, which is sitting under the Christmas Tree (still unwrapped mind you - I'm doubting it will ever be wrapped) wishing that I could open it and play with it. But alas it's not to be, I apparently have to wait until Tuesday morning to open it. (My Birthday..) We're having a little BBQ on Tuesday night with a few friends for my birthday, so I have to go out tomorrow and buy all the meat and salads. Not sure about a cake yet, I just don't have the motivation to make one, but knowing me, I more than likely will end up making a cake. Just have to decide on which theme/design/type of cake I'm going to do. I might even get Kristen to help me make it, after the cakes that she made today. They were REALLY REALLY yummy.

As of Thursday morning when we get up, I'm starting on a year long life changing way of eating. I'm determined to loose this weight that's keeping me unhappy. So I'm hoping to blog my way there, it will either be via daily or weekly posts. Fingers Crossed I'll get to my goal weight by this time next year.

Well I should get going, I have two little boys who need to get ready for bed, and I'm just imagining the arguments that I'm going to have. James doesn't think that he should go to bed at night now that the girls are here. Wish me luck.....

To my friends and family who read this, I would just like to wish you a Merry Christmas.. I know the day is almost at an end, but we still have a few hours left in the day...

What a wonderful day we have had. The day started with Richard txting me at 6am to let me know that he was on his way home from work. I was meant to get up then, but was so tired, as I didn't get to bed until 2am, after finishing off a few bits and pieces. So as soon as Rich got home, we woke the boys and opened presents. The look of complete JOY on their faces was just priceless. James couldn't quite comprehend why there were soo many presents just for him, and Harrison really didn't care.. I think next year will be great in the Clark household.

After presents the boys played while I got myself ready to go out. At about 9am, I packed the boys into the car and headed to Mum's, and that's where we still are..

At Mum's there were more presents, from her, and granny.
It's now 7pm and both boys are well and truly ready for bed. So on that note I'm heading off to put them to bed...

Enjoy the rest of your Christmas Day.

WOW here we are 3 days till Christmas. I can’t believe we’re at that time of year again. When on Earth has 2008 gone???

We had Harrison’s 2nd birthday 2 weeks ago, and had a lovely day. We woke up and he opened his presents, then Mum and Granny came round for afternoon tea, and I made a number 2 cake for Harrison to blow out.

On the 13th we had a little party for Harrison and a few of his little friends. Bec, Nigel and Hunter came, Aerin and Aerin’s mum, and Grandma, and of course Mum and Granny came as well. We had a lovely lunch and another cake that I’d made. This time round was a zoo cake, and then we played pass the parcel. Later that night we went for a drive into the city, and had a look at the Christmas lights that are around the place.

We’re gearing up for Christmas and the girls coming. All the presents are bought and now I just need to wrap them and make sure everything is set. The boys as usual are getting spoilt this year, I think I went a tad overboard, oh well, they should never get bored anymore. Fingers crossed anyway. The girls then arrive on Saturday coming (27th) for almost a month. So yesterday, we had to put the bunk beds together, and get Mum to bring the trundle over. Being in a tiny 2 bedroom unit, makes it really hard for space, and having all 4 kids in the same room is going to be a test in itself. But I know we’ll manage.


Well better go, boys are starting to irriate Richard by hitting him on the arms. So I should really go and save him.

OH wow.. Who can believe that it's December already. The one month a year that I hate with a passion. Not because of Christmas, but due to the fact that there are so many birthday's, (4 in just my family and about 5 friends), an anniversary and of course Christmas. Although I do have to admit that I love having the girls here for 4 weeks at a time.

It's scary to think that this time next week Harrison will be 2, and on Monday Phoebe will be 9. I can't get over the fact that the years have flown by. Phoebe was 17 months old when I first became a part of her life.

We had a fairly uneventful weekend. Saturday we went to Thorndon Park for a picnic lunch, although that ended up being a lot later than planned. As I was putting the boys in the car, Harrison decided to play with the window, so before I put my keys in the car I dealt with Harry and strapped him in, and accidentally left my keys on the boot of the car. When we got to Mum's I couldn't find them. We had to go home and look around, in the end Rich had to for a walk to find them. He found them alright all battered and broken, about 5km from home. The only key that still works is my car key. So once we'd found them we headed off.. Then Sunday we just spent the day at home because Rich had to work Sunday night.

I'm looking forward to Sunday, our Hamper King delivery is finally here. I've waited all year for this, we've ordered so much stuff this year due to having the girls after Xmas. yum yum, Christmas will have come early yet again for me.

Just quickly before I go, Skip, if I don't talk to you tomorrow

We will have to catch up soon, she was only 2 weeks old last time I saw her. lol..

Lots of love Gail. xoxoxo

We yesterday I got my new Xmas present.. A canon EOS 1000D... I'm in LOVE!!!! It takes the most amazing photos. So to test it out properly today we went to Thorndon Park.. Here are a few of the pics that we took...