Love my sisters...

A plaque that all three of us have from our last Straddie trip. :)

Today is one of those days... Went to a new church that I had not been to before and had a great time... Joshua came with me and is now wanting to go during term when Sunday School is on as well... He had a great time.

Today I am missing my sisters... Both Tina and Lis... Lis is now back with her husband Phil on the island up at Boigu, 5km south of PNG. She spent her holidays in Cairns and from all accounts had a ball. My Mum and Step Dad went and saw them while they celebrated their 9th Wedding Anniversary at the same time as well...

Tina, like my two brothers, I ring once a fortnight so that I can keep in contact and also stay a close part of their lives... The last few conversations have been short and I miss our chats... I miss Straddie most of all today... From changes happening around here I won't be going back there for a while and changes are afoot with my sisters as well. Still am hoping for a holiday between Christmas and New Year but probably won't be to Straddie. We may have to go up the coast I think... Springbrook has also been talked about at some point or another... Russell and I had our honeymoon there, so lovely memories...

Either way... Today, I miss them terribly and can't wait for the next time when I get to see them. Love my sister hugs...

Cheers Damaris

Another job finished...

Finally the towel rack is up...

Towels at the ready. :)

There is always something to do around here and this is another job that has been completed... finally...

Last weekend we had trouble getting the towel rack up as we didn't have the right wall plugs. The lady in the hardware shop sold us the wrong stuff so Russell had to get different ones during the week. He was armed and ready this morning. :) hehe

So here is the end result. There are four rods so we could all use one towel each but what we have decided to do is the boys use one and Russell and I use one. Cuts on the washing as well. Only drying freshly washed bodies after all. This way also because I still put together all four rods we can hang them over two rods each and this will aid with drying. :) Win, win all round. hehe

Cheers Damaris

Look what Tiffany is doing now???

A very inviting atmosphere. :)

Went in the other day to have my nails done... They needed it trust me. :) While I was there I had the pleasure of being the first waxing customer as well. :) I got my eyebrows waxed and lashes tinted. My eyes always water when I put on mascara so don't even bother anymore. I just tint them when I think about it. Was such a lovely relaxing time. :)

Thanks Tiffany for looking after me once again. :) hehe

Cheers Damaris

Building time...

The poor pool umbrella...

Joshua in his new sandpit cubby... :)

We had this pile of underlay put there, oh a while ago, let me say it that way. :) Over time the boys have used it for making jumps for their bikes and currently it is being used as a sandpit. :)

The other day Joshua went fossicking around the place and found our umbrella that we used to use over our last pool... He is using it now as a shelter, clever boy...

Underneath there is room for four kids apparently... He was in there with a friend the other day while it was pouring outside yet they were nice and dry underneath it. :) They had a ball and Joshua is still working on it. It is always a work in progress off course. :)

Cheers Damaris

What a treasure...

A creation from my darling Joshua...

Joshua was playing with his Mighty Beanz collection yesterday morning and look what he came up with all by himself... Can you make it out???

It says: D and R = Love, meaning "Damaris and Russell = Love"...

How cute is my boy??? Yes, very :)

We have been having a really relaxing time just the two of us... Timothy should be off to Tempin' Bowling in Toowoomba with Bluecare today so again he will have an awesome day. This is really good as he had such a hard time going there and getting used to it all in the first place. As he is verbal it was very hard for him to connect with others that are not. Now he loves it and Bluecare try their very best to ensure that he is teamed up with another person that fits more to him. They try hard with all their clients and I can't thank them enough for our little break... Four nights... It has been bliss...

Russell is home tonight to enjoy the last night with us and we will make sure it is a lovely one. Tomorrow Joshua and I are off to Ipswich Hospital to see the ENT one last time and hopefully get the all clear. Though there have been some dodgy nose incidents of late... Still hoping and praying that this is the one that closes his file after 9 long years...

So all in all this holiday with just Joshua has really brought out his warm side... He has had a great time spending most of it with me and including me really well in his little world. I think that having No Technology Day on Mondays and Low Electricity Day on a Wednesday has really helped that. One game he insisted on each night too has been the game we play where we both think of someone we know and have to take turns saying nice things about them... He loves that game and so do I...

Cheers Damaris

New Look Fridge...

Love clear, shiny surfaces :)

On the weekend I had some time to kill and had remembered a time when I had read somewhere that a while clear fridge made all the difference to the kitchen...

I already have a large kitchen but thought I would give it a go. Not that there was too much of anything there beforehand really...

So I took everything off from both sides that you see when in the kitchen. I cleaned it with Jif and polished the surface. The butchers block next to the fridge got a tidy up as well... I did keep things that needed keeping, ie. Thermomix quick instructions, Timothy's Timetable. That sort of thing but put them on the side next to the laundry as no one sees it there unless they go on that side. :)

Well I must say that I am really pleasantly surprised that it worked as well as I had read. I now wish I had done it allot earlier. Better late than never though. :)

Cheers Damaris

A day out and about...

A warm Winter's day...

Timothy was rather sick after this one...

Off course he found a tree to climb. :)

Joshua trying to swing and be cool...

Timothy swinging, his way. :)

Yesterday we were slow to get up and ready for the day. It is holidays after all... We had an extra boy stay the night and he left just after 9am. After that we potted around and tidied up a little. Not much needed doing...

Then at lunchtime we had our lunch and headed off to Warwick. There we had a couple of errants to run and a couple of things to get from the shops. Can you believe it??? Woolies ran out of Home Brand Self Raising Flour... I still can't. But there you have it. Hopefully there are shelves stacked full of flour again today as I need to have some at home... Aldi would have worked out $.05 dearer and every bit counts when I am down to the end of shopping money...

We had 1/2hr to kill before Timothy was due at BlueCare so we ended up going to Lesley Park. Oh how glorious it was. The sun was out, the kids were playing and laughing. The park always looks soooo differently when there are hardly any leaves on the trees. Looks so much bigger...

Here are some pictures of the Park and my boys. :)

Cheers Damaris