Merry Christmas to all, a little late

We hope everyone had a great Christmas. We took a few days to drive the great ocean road but we were home for Santa to come down the chimney, and spent the rest of the holidays at home playing with our new toys. Santa came and brought Lily a princess dress, and Oliver a train track set, very excited kids. Greg gave me an iPad equalling a very excited mom, and Greg got lots of goodies, including a little helicopter. We hope you all had a good Christmas too.

I'm back

I am back! I can't believe that I haven't blogged since Aug! Has it really been so long, and where oh where did that time go!?!

What has happened since I blogged last... well a lot and a little...

We came back to Australia, the kids did well on the trip back

Lillian turned three, she had a fairy princess cake

We took a quick trip up to Brisbane to visit with Melissa and boys

Oliver turned two, he had an orange monster cake

We celebrated halloween at home, the kids did a treasure hunt for candy, I felt guilty and made them costumes, Lillian was Tinkerbell and Oliver was Peter Pan

We had a house full of people over for Thanksgiving (on Sat). Greg rottiseried the turkey on the grill, we love that thing!

Lillian turns three with a fairy princess cake

Oliver turns two with a monster cake

tinkerbell and peter pan

Now we are on to december, it feels like fall here believe it or not. I am still waiting for summer. Tomorrow I will try to get on with pictures of our advent calendar and our christmas tree that we got yesterday.

Sorry for not posting in so long!

Where did July go?

I missed it, I blinked and July was gone! It went by too fast with too much activity and too much visiting for a blog to be written. I will try to hit the highlights, but there were so many that I will probably miss a few!

First off, to finish off with June. We spent the last week in June up in Northern Minnesota with Friends and Family up there. Had a great time, Greg flew in and drove up (a few days late, darn ash clouds!) It was good to spend time with cousins on Lake Vermillion.

We flew into Boston and drove up to New Hampshire the first of July, and proceeded to buy a house and throw a party the next day! Very busy times. It was great to see everyone up here and to catch up with friends, and to enjoy the lake. Summer finally arrived, and it got pretty hot here in July.

We got to meet Baby Gabriella... Finally. What a cute little bundle she is. Lily is jealous of the baby when Nana has her, and Oliver is unsure when I am holding her. I think the first time he thought she was going to replace him! They both love her though, when she cries they go in all directions trying to find toys for her. Lily loves to tell people that 'baby doesn't talk'

Lets see, highlights for July, the fourth of July was great with a parade and fireworks. Oliver loved the parade and all the noise, Lily like it as well with the candy being thrown out. Greg got to stay on in the US a few more days due to flight schedule issues. This turned out to be a good thing as he made it to Gabriella's baptism. We didn't tell Kellie that he was still here, so she was surprised to see him walk in her house! It was nice that he was here for it.

We have had lots to do this month, lots of visiting and swimming and fun. Lily is our resident fish right now and is showing off her swimming skills, Oliver is trying to catch up with her though. They are growing fast! We are settling into what we are now calling the 'lake house' pretty well, we all love the place. It is going to be hard to leave it! I guess that is a good sign though.

We just finished off the month with another party here at the lake... Chicken BBQ, the fire department puts on a BBQ each year for a fundraiser. Gregs cousins had lots of friends around so the place was loaded with kids. It looked like everyone had a good time.

So we bookended the month of July with parties and good weather. I will try to post a few pics soon, I am slow with them as well right now!

Take care all

A good day

Today we had a great day at the lake. It was actually summertime! We had a pretty normal morning... wake up, breakfast, dressed, gym, home. But today the sun was shining, the bugs were gone, and there was no wind. This all adds up to be a good lake day. On top of it Jordyn didn't have to work! So we went out on the boat. Oliver loved it this time around, Lily is a lake baby, she loves the boat! Jordyn took them both tubing, see pictures!

Oliver loved it, even though he doesn't seem too excited!

Lily playing on the beach she tried to splash us, but we put a stop to that! I loved her hair in the piggy tails. I hope she lets me do it again.

We went to the Jackson hot dog night tonight. The weather couldn't have been nicer! Summer has come, now lets hope it stays put for a little bit! Oliver enjoyed the hot dogs at the Jackson hot dog night!

The day before we went out to Grama and Grampas for dinner, and Grampa wanted to give Oliver a ride in his tractor, so they graded the driveway. Oliver liked the tractor, and wanted to ride one at hot dog night! He is so serious though while he was in it, it is hard to tell with him sometimes if he likes it or not!

A catch up in the middle of June!

Well it is almost the middle of June, and the last time I posted was when we arrived in the states! Sorry everyone! Our time seems to go by so fast when we are here, we are halfway through our stay here in Minn, and I know that the rest of the time will go by just as fast.

When we arrived in Minn the weather was not the best, rain... wind... coldish... I was wondering where the summertime weather was! We settled into the cabin (or rather the garagemahall as Greg named the garage where we stay) with relative ease. Lily is sleeping in one of the new bed cubbies, and she loves it. We put glow int he dark stars up on her little ceiling. Oliver is in a crib, kindof... The child is just like his Dad and is a climber, most of the time when I come up for bed I find Oliver asleep on the floor either in front of the door, or under his crib, with all the stuffed animals and blankets from his crib around him! He is not ready for a cubby bed, so I just keep picking him up and putting him back. Silly Boy!

We all got sick here, the kids ran fevers, Oliver got a cough, I got a bad stomach virus, Jordyn and Mum got colds and fevers... There went a week of our vacation. Mum still has a bad cough, and is more than ready for it to go away.

The weather has gotten nice since we were all sick though, summer is arriving. The boat is in the water, and we almost hit 100 degrees a few days ago. We took the boat out for a spin on the water, thinking that Oliver would love it, he did not. The combo of the boat and the life jacket makes for an unhappy boy. I will try one more time with him, and then it is no boat until next year. Lily on the other hand loved it, loved the wind in her hair and going fast. Thats my girl!

We are keeping ourselves fairly well entertained here, there is a small fisher price slide that the kids LOVE, and we filled a turtle sandbox with water so they can climb in and out and get a little cooler. They love being outside, and need some outside time every day or they are CRABBY! There is also a great minagerie of riding toys around for them to play with. A little bicycle, a tricycle, a big red fisher price car... if we left it all outside it would look like Mum has started a daycare!

Lily keeps us on our toes, she can open all the doors... the other day I put her in the garage for a nap, and 5 min later she was back in the cabin, I never heard a sound on the baby monitor! Oliver just learnt how to open the screen door, and that is actually the one we need to worry about more, Lily pretty much knows to go back and forth from the cabin to the garage and doesn't go to the lake or the road, or the neighbors, but Oliver is easily distracted by the cat wondering off, or the neighbors dog, or the fluff floating in the sky, who knows where he could end up if we don't stay on top of him! Luckily I came with two kids, and two still remain!

On the potty training front for Lily, well can I call it a front when the war is won? I still mistrust her at times (like long car rides) but I shouldn't, she is very good and I believe we can safely mark down a victory for that one. We just have to work on night, and I am going to give that one a rest for a while, maybe sometime after she turns three! I am very proud of her though.

We have gotten to see lots of family while we are back, including Marks family who came out from the black hills for Caseys graduation. Everyone has grown, I can't believe how big the boys are! It was really good to see them all.

Well I think that is enough catch up for now, oh wait there is one more thing, Jake... Lillian has her first crush, and it happens to be my cousin Jake! She turns silly and flirty around him, its pretty funny. I hope she reads this in 20 years and gets a kick out of it!

Thats it for now!

Back in America

We made it! The kids and I are back in the USA, and very glad to be! I had forgotten about all the choices in the grocery stores here, and I have already had a taste of my favorite items that I can't get abroad. The kids are doing great here, already getting into trouble at Mimi's house.

A recap of our journey

We left Melbourne on Wednesday the 18th, at 9:30 in the morning. Greg dropped us off at the airport, our two bags and two car seats got checked at baggage, and then the stroller got checked at the gate. I got on the airplane with two kids, Oliver in the backpack, a large carry-on, a purse, and then of course the kids little backpacks full of toys. The airplane was big, and we were on the second floor in the back. The flight attendant moved us to the very last row where we got an extra seat for Oliver, which was really nice. The kids did really well on the flight, Lily watched a lot of movies, and I kept Oliver pretty busy. Getting off in LA was pretty hard, we were the last ones off the plane (our level). Lily and Oliver were sound asleep when the plane landed, and Lily rallied pretty well to walk through passport control, and then helped with bags. The baggage claim in LA was the worst part of the whole deal, soo many people trying to get backs and get out at the same time. We finally made it, and we were so happy to see Debbie at the end of it all.

We spent a good few days at Debbies, and my friend Erin came up to spend time with us as well. We kept the kids (and me) up for the day, walked to the mall, and had some good mexican for dinner. The kids were more than ready for bed, and fell asleep soon after their heads hit the pillow. The kids woke up in the middle of the night, but they went back to sleep 45 min later. The next day was a bit better, we went to see a Noah's Ark exhibit which was pretty cool, and then we went down to Santa Monica to get some ice cream and hang out. All in it was a great few days.

We got on the airplane again on Friday morning to come to Minnesota, the first flight went pretty well, the kids both took little naps. We had a quick layover, which turned out to be a long layover, and then a quick 45 min flight to Minneapolis. Mum and Jordyn were waiting for us at baggage, We were the last ones off the plane again, so our bags were already there for us. We were finally here, and we are so happy to be here!

No jetlag anymore, and it was not as bad as I had anticipated. The same about the trip, it was hard, but it could have been a lot worse, and in fact went smoother than I thought it would go.

Easter Photos

My Easter Bunnies

What a cute little boy

The Easter Bunny came and left tracks!

Happy (belated) Easter

Bula from Fiji!
We made it to Fiji a few days ago and have settled in. The kids are loving the pool and swimming, we are all having fun in the sun. The trip here was in the middle of the night and we were a little worried about it, but our kids did great! There was another child on the plane who was not as good though, poor kid, poor parents, poor plane... but at least it wasn't ours!
Today we set the kids up with a MeiMei, the nany service here, they will hang out with them for the next four days, Greg and I get to be adults and do adult things, like go scuba diving and sailing! We feel a little guilty about dropping the kids, but are also very excited!
We had a great easter hunt in our room, we will be posting pics when we get back to Melbourne. Lily found the majority of eggs, but Oliver got a few. Greg and I had fun watching them. The easter bunny dropped off lots of eggs, and even left his paw prints for us to see the next day! We hope that everyone had a wonderful easter, we will be back in touch next Sat. the phones and internet are not great here. Love to all!

A few finished projects

I have had a bit of time to do a few projects lately, and I love it. It actually lets me feel like I am accomplishing something when I finish. I know that I accomplish a lot during the day with the kids and house and all that, but to have something visibly finished is a really good feeling.

The first project I did was this trunk, I am very proud of this one, total cost of this project is 4$

Before

After

I found the trunk across the road, the neighbors were throwing it out, so the trunk was free! It was in pretty good condition, so I bought some 2$ fabric to replace the teddy bears, and I bought some 2$ paint to give it a fresh look. I am fudging a bit, this trunk isn't completely done. I need to find some hardware for it, such as handles and a piston for the inside so the kids can't slam it down and so that the lid can stay up when they are getting their toys out.

This is my next project, a little roll top desk that the neighbors beside us put on the side of the road. When Greg came home and saw it in our garage he was a little put out, but he has since come around, especially because I said if it didn't look any better then we could just return it to the side of the road, no harm done. I am planning on sanding the back down, it is a horribly shiny finish that is all dinged and scratched. Then I am at kind of a loss to finish, I want to change the color, it is going to go into Lily's room and I want something a little softer. I have a blue paint that I am thinking of putting on top, we will see and i will post a picture when I finish. This project has to be done in a month, before we leave for the summer, so I do have a deadline. I am almost finished with the sanding part.

And then there is the bunting that I wanted to see if I could do. This is actually the second one that I did, but it looks better than the first, so I guess I am on the right track. This one has fairy fabric, and it is going to go into Lily's room. I have pirate fabric for Oliver, so hopefully that will look as good. Overall I am very happy with how this turned out and I hope to do more.

Fall Down Under

Fall has arrived down under, and with it so have a few colds and runny noses in the Mickle house. Poor Oliver has a pretty good cold on the go, complete with owey gooey runny nose. Lillian seems to be immune to it so far, Greg is just getting over a pretty bad cold, but I am just starting with the runny nose! Poor Me :( I dislike being sick, and hope that it doesn't go beyond a runny nose and head ache.

On to better and brighter news, we are going to be going to Fiji for Easter, and we are so excited. There is a week of vacations here in Australia, so we are taking advantage of that and taking a trip. So excited to go to Fiji and see beautiful water and beaches. Bonus is that the hotel has babysitting, and Greg and I are really looking forward to this feature, we can go scuba diving and out to diner without kids! Yay. It will be a lot of fun all around, and we are looking forward to it.

Just a few things

We have been having some nice fall days down under lately! The ids have been enjoying the backyard, and the bag of sand that I bought them to play with. This last week was the last for the sand though, I am tired of having it tramped through the house, so the sand got redistributed around the back garden. This next week is the last week for swimming lessons. The kids did really great during the lessons, and I don't know how much 'swimming' they actually learnt, as they can't even float yet, but they are very comfortable in the water. Oliver started the lessons clinging to my neck like a koala, and now he is pushing away to try and get toys! he loves to 'jump' (belly flop) into the water too! The lessons also taught them how to listen and take turns, and it was just a lot of fun all around. We will miss them, but I think that we will still go to the pool around that time just for fun!

Having fun in the backyard!

Great news! On the cousin front Lily and Oliver have their first cousin! Kellie and Dennis have had a beautiful baby girl, Gabriella Rose Magnifico. She is beautiful, we got to see her on skype, her little eyes were open, and she has a head full of dark hair! We are so very happy for the new family, and can't wait to meet her this summer! Welcome to the world little one!

A few weekend ago we went to an estate here in the city, Rippon Lee, and had a picnic lunch in the gardens. We didn't do a tour of the house, didn't think the kids would appreciate that, but the gardens were very nice, and we got to go into the servants quarters and see the kitchen and laundry rooms. The kids did very well walking around the designated area and being patient while Greg and I had a good snoop around. It was a very nice way to spend a couple of weekend hours on a nice day here in Melbourne.

Oliver the explorer

Like father, like daughter

A little catch up

We went to the zoo last week with friends. I got off this cute picture of Lily and Hugh sitting on wooden elephants, I have no idea what they are both looking at!

Oliver, what more is there to say

Here is Lily's black eye as of yesterday, it has changed again and I will try to get a new picture.

Lily got her black eye when she was sitting on the top of one of those fisher price cars. Oliver was riding in it, and she was on top. Somehow she lost her balance and landed on her head. I think she then had a pretty good headache for the rest of the day, but other than the black eye she is fine, and proceeded to climb on top of the car again.

The weather here is turning into fall, which means overcast and cooler. With rain. This is good as the country had been in drought state for years.

The kids are doing well in swimming lessons. They aren't really learning to swim yet, but are trying out the water. I think that the lessons teach them a lot about listening, taking turns, being patient... All this is good for both Lily and Oliver. Oliver has gotten a lot more comfortable in the water than when we started, but Lily will still just go and jump in, and she can't make it back to the side herself, so we have to keep a good eye on her still.

Happy Mardi Gras (a few days late)

Hope everyone had a good Mardi Gras! We celebrated here on Wed. (it was still tues in the US!) I made my first batch of gumbo, some home made bread, a king cake and shrimp etoufe just for Greg. It was a feast, and we had a few friends over to help us eat it all. Needless to say is that I still have leftovers. YAY.

Greg stayed home this morning so that he could take Lily to swimming lessons. I hope that she is behaving for her Dad and the teacher. She does really good for me most of the time.

This last weekend was a big weekend for us here, we went 'hiking' with the kids on Sat. and then to a festival on Sun. Busy weekend but we all had fun. The walking in the Dandenongs went really well. Lily walked about half of the way, and Oliver toddled along for about a fourth before he got put in the backpack. He just sat down in the middle of the trail and decided that he was done. We didnt take any pictures, but we did have the video camera! As soon as I figure out how to convert the video I will put it online for all to see.

This weekend isn't planned yet, but Greg has a half day on Monday, so I think we are going to take advantage of that!

time

All is well here down under, the kids are growing, Greg is working, and I am slowly getting a life outside of the kids! Yay! It isn't a big life, still pretty small, but it is something. The kids are starting to play independently, and I especially like it when they take time to go upstairs and play! This all adds up to give me time... time to do what? It has been awhile since I had time to myself and it has taken me a little bit of time to realize what I want to do with this new found time. I can now scrapbook again, and organize pieces of my life again... boy that sounds a little boring, but it is not at all, I am so excited! I think that most surprising to me is that I want to tae the time to bake and cook. This last week I successfully made home made eclairs for the first time, cookies, and most impressively I made bread. The very first loaf of bread that I have ever made that turned out! And boy it tasted great. It was so rewarding to see it turn out.

In kid news, Lily and Oliver are doing great in swimming lessons, and we are working on them being okay in day care. They are busy little kids, and Oliver is catching on quickly to things that he sees Lily doing. They are always together, it is great that for the most part they get along so well. We do have our moments though, and Lily hits or pushes Oliver and he goes strait for her hair! Oh the fighting has began and life here will never be the same.

a picture of one of my yummy eclairs!

Our quick trip to Sydney

This is Jaffa and Lily, it was mutual love all around with this little dog!

Greg and Oliver on rocks at the beach

I think she looks so old here

Where in the world is Lily?

Ah there is a family shot... at last!

Happy Valentines Day!

To all we hope that you had a nice valentines day. We did here down under! Lily made Valentine cards, and decorated cup cakes with her friend Hugh. Greg and I had a nice quiet evening after the kids went to bed. He bought me some beautiful orchids, so he did really well. I really love having flowers in the house, it surprises me how much.

We had a pretty uneventful week this last week, except for getting back from Sydney, which was nice. We took Lily and Oliver bowling with friends on Sunday, and that was a lot of fun. They had a great time rolling the balls down the ally. We then went out to lunch, and that could have been smoother, we have a few things to work on there, but it wasn't only the kids, it took forever to get the food!

One of Oliver's little friends broke his arm falling off a coffee table last week, poor baby. He has a cast now and it will stay that way for a month! Then I turn around and see my kids on the kitchen table! They are such little monkeys and it drives me crazy!

Hopefully later I will post some Sydney pics, Happy Valentines Day to all

Feb starts

It is the start of Feb. and I can hardly get my head around the fact that we are already this far into the new year. It seems to have taken off with a bang and hasn't slowed down any. We started swimming lessons this last week, Oliver isn't quite sure about the lessons, and Lily doesn't like to be left in day care by herself (without her brother). But when Lily has lessons it goes pretty well, she loves the water and is fearless in it, and Oliver has no problem being in day care by himself! Go figure...

We went camping last weekend at 90 mile beach, which is about three hours away from us. It was hot and we only went for one night, so it was a lot of work@! not to mention very dirty. But we had fun, and the kids did pretty good all things considering. The beach was cool, Lily and Greg had a great time playing in the surf, you can't go too far out past where the water breaks because there are sharks in the water! We didn't see any thankfully. Oliver got nocked down by the surf, swallowed a little salt water and got a bit upset, poor baby. So for his temper tantrum he decided to throw himself face down in the sand, he was totally covered! He had sand everywhere, but he wasn't the only one, I don't think my car will ever be the same again.

Tomorrow we are headed up to Sydney to visit friends and have a little vacation, we are looking forward to it, Greg is going on to New Zealand from there, which means I get to come home by myself with the kids. I just bought a framed baby carrier at a market that I am going to use on this trip, I hope it works as well as I imagine it to. Wish us luck and I will blog when we get back

January

I feel like I should start this post off with a Happy New Year, even though it is VERY late!

I have been feeling very anti computer lately, I just haven't had the drive to get on to even check my email! How horrible is that. I am back now, so hopefully the posts will start coming again! The month of January seemed to go by so fast, a very busy month.

We started off the new year with a trip up to Adelaide and the wineries there. We drove up in two cars (my mum and dad and sister were here for the holidays) and flew back- thankfully. It was a lovely trip beautiful country, and the kids were surprising well behaved at the vineyard tasting rooms-well for the most part. Jordyn left when we got back, and Mum and Dad stayed on for a few more days before Dad left to go back to Africa. Mum stayed on for a few more weeks, which was terrific, It was easier on us all to have everyone sort of trickle out instead of a mass exodus. I know that Lily and Oliver miss all the attention from all of the visits in the last few months. Lily's vocabulary has jumped from all the extra people talking, and Oliver... well he is a little copy cat of his sister right now, it is cute to watch him follow and copy Lily.

Last weekend we had our first family camping trip, down on 90 mile beach. What a beautiful beach, lots of waves, with a pretty big undertow. Greg and Lily had a great time, Oliver got knocked over and that was it for him!

Well that was it in a nutshell for January, we are now on to Feb. I can't believe it! Where is the time going?

I really will try to do better at updating.