The Princess

Tildy is now the author of the comic strip 'Wallaby Scrub'. We've only had one edition but we are waiting for more. Her first attempt covers the days leading up to our decision to call our little block 'Wallaby Scrub'. She's got a great sense of humour, and really portrayed the characters in our tribe accurately. Not just a pretty face!

Jessica

Here is our fiercely independant and capable three year old. "I can do it, Mummy" is one of her most common sayings. She includes herself as one of the 'biggies', and only her 2 year old brother is a 'littlie'. She has a mop of hair that also won't be 'controlled' and a sense of fun that is topped by no other in the tribe. Jess has one volume level: extremely loud. She has one speed control: non stop. Her favourite passtime is asking questions. For example, do dolphins have eyebrows, do snakes have ears, will I be a mummy one day, are you going to marry daddy again, and, of course, are you trying to sleep mummy?

Lego

Beth's been busy building. She drew plans for this one, and used nearly every block in the box. It's not quite the homestead at Wallaby Scrub; more something you'd find on an English estate (according to Beth).

My Friend, Diana

We haven't seen Diana for so long, so when her work brought her to town we couldn't get to the airport quick enough! Her plane arrived 8am Sunday morning, and we didn't have a break in the conversation for the following 9 hours. Hehe.

Di's the tall one in the middle...

LC

Elsie believes it is time again for a post all about her! She attended another sword class yesterday. With the half hour drive to get to the academy, we had to leave relatively early to be there only 15 minutes late. Else was quite determined to be there so ended up dressing all three littlies, getting them in the car, and finally herding the others to the vehicle while I threw together some on-the-go brunch. There's a public library not far from the academy, so the other children and I spent the hours playing at the library. Emily brought me a never ending stream of books to read aloud to her. Now see, I didn't write a whole post just about Elsie. And Elsie thinks that's unfair. So I'll finish off with a link to her new blog. http://www.lc-justme.blogspot.com/

My Knight in Shining Armour

Willem loves to dress up just as much as the little girls. He's also been sparring with Elsie, and he takes swords and swordfighting very seriously. He draws his sword from its scabbard with much gusto, and thrusts it forward towards his enemy. This is usually accompanied by a hearty warcry. He advances towards his foe with the footwork of a swordmaster and weilds his weapon with the courage of a lion. All this at just two years of age!

Sewing

Beth is continuing her sewing career by starting on a dress. I posted last year about the quilt block Beth completed, and I'm happy to say she has progressed very well. Of course, she may not finish the project until Christmas ... 2010! No, she'll finish it before then, but she is very methodical and particular about each and every seam.

After she cut out the pattern pieces, Beth and I both thought some machine practice would be a good idea. My only warning was that she should not try to stop the needle moving with her hands. Just take her foot off the treddle.

The really weird thing is that she is learning on the very machine that I learnt on thirty years ago. Good equipment never dies, it just gets passed on down.

Using the Rods

Over the Christmas break I ordered a double tin of coloured (Cuisenaire) rods. They arrived at the local post office at Wallaby Scrub, along with a pack of base 10 blocks. I've encouraged the children to experiment with them, and this is what Lilly and Emily came up with.

Emy's pointy hat... or spikey hair.

Lilly's robot with a bellybutton.

The 'masterpiece'.

Picnic Time

We enjoyed a lunch in the park yesterday. Something we haven't done for a while. Elsie took a class at the 'academy' and then put in a couple of hours work in the shop polishing the swords. The children and I had some time to kill, so shopping, picnic and a trip to the book shop helped us do that.

I couldn't resist these photos of the children lazing around in the park.

Why Play With Toys When...

...when you can play with bottle brushes!

Foiled!

Haha! We've foiled those two puppies of ours. Being such little things they could easily slip under the new fence and run, unhindered, to the neighbours' yards. They go at full speed to the fence, barking and bristling, and then the neighbour's dog starts running up and down the fence line, also barking. Then they stop, look at each other, and look a little dumb struck. "OK, so what do we do now?" So today, we wired 'vermin netting' to the bottom of the wire fence, and even bricked up some bits. Jack ran down the back of the paddock calling for Spuddy to follow. She ran back and forth, to each of her favourite escape holes, but was unable to follow. Of course, we didn't have to test Belle... she's u bi' fick and just follows Spud. Also spent all afternoon performing the first mow of the new turf. Luckily I had to mow half a yard of unturfed, wild grasses. Oh, it was sooooo good, it reminded me of my paddock at Wallaby Scrub.

Emily turns 6!

Happy 6th Birthday, Emily Joy

We all celebrated Emily's sixth birthday on Friday. She woke up at the crack of dawn and stood at my bedroom door hoping John and I would wake. When everyone was awake and on our bed, Emily took the centre position ready to receive her gifts. All the children had made her birthday cards, and her Aunty Sandy had sent one, too. Toys and clothes made up the presents.

John had the day off work (to prepare for his course) and took four of the children shopping. Emy came home with another parcel, ran upstairs, and then presented herself in her new outfit...

(Can you see Jessica? She's wearing one of Emily's new birthday presents. I think she is also eyeing off the princess dress.)

Party pies, fish fingers, chewy lollies and a more sophisticated platter of deli meats were enjoyed by all that evening. Orange cordial washed it all down, and made a bit more room for the icecream.

More Catching Up

Setting: Funeral durge playing solemnly in the background, grey clouds hanging over the surrounding mountains, faces downcast.....

I TURNED 40!

What happened! I'm sure I was only 21 a couple of years ago. So, for the first time since my 21st birthday celebrations, I again celebrated a milestone. A Lebanese banquet of delicious dishes, a glass of the best, and some lovely company made this birthday special. And I think the 20 children at our place that night also had a great time. 11pm saw us waving good bye, making our way up to sleepybyes, and remembering the events of the night. It was the following lunchtime that we hopped into the cars and travelled once again to Wallaby Scrub. Now that was probably the quietest trip we've done for a while.

A Bit of Catch Up News

Attended the annual Regimental Ball for John's Regiment mid December. Felt very fancy, but not quite myself. The affair was very ritzy, starting with a dinner and followed closely by an evening at the Town Hall. Entertainment varied from a band, to a trio of rocky violinists in sexy red dresses, and the Mayor giving his speech of encouragement.

Here are some happy snaps from the dressing room.

Not quite the right dress for Wallaby Scrub, hey mate!

We're Back Online!

Yes, I know, it's been a while. But I've had my r&r and now it's back to work.

Since the last blog post we've been up and down to the farm many times. John's had a couple of weeks at work now, and life is speeding up again.

John heads south on Monday for a four week course. We'll stick around until our dentist gives us another bill. The mansion in town will feel even emptier when John leaves. Hmm...we are missing Wallaby Scrub even after 24 hours.

We overlook the mountains here in the city, surrounded by three acres of paddock. Not quite our 200 acres, but much more bearable than being on top of neighbours. There's new turf around the house (instead of the dirt) and some of the new trees and bushes have survived the hot, dry summer.

Stay tuned for a daily fix of exciting adventures from our tribe!

View from the back patio (before the turf went down).

The Newspaper Article

As promised, the newspaper article....

As a follow up to this article and the tv news report, John has been interviewed for another newspaper article in a local paper.

John Receives His Service Medals

This morning we witnessed John receiving his 4 year service medal, and tags for his deployment overseas. The photos speak for themselves.

We are all so proud of him. Well done John!

Our Stay in Temporary Accommodation

The kids were becoming a little tired of the same old toys, so when we found these finger puppets we knew they'd be a hit.

This was at the convention centre where we stayed for 4 nights. The kids treated it as if we were on 'camp'. The Centre has a pool which we used each afternoon, otherwise we spent our time wandering the grounds, playing games, reading, eating, watching movies, playing on the computer, and we also tried to catch up on some sleep.

Then we moved into a house for the next 5 nights. Nice house, too! John needed to go to work during the next week, which left us at home without a car. The children spent a lot of time walking the dogs down by the river. They seemed to have a new piece of interesting information each time they returned.

One night we had a terrific storm, and the rain brought out the frogs. Green Tree frogs are always a favourite.

And now we are in another house for a total of 4 nights. We are much closer to the beach so I expect to make it down there a few times while we are here. With a much larger back yard the children have enjoyed kicking the soccer ball around.

Only 3 more nights until we finally sleep in our new home.

The New Gutty City Residence

Now, where do I begin?

It's a two storey place, 4 bedrooms upstairs, 3 downstairs, 3 bathrooms/toilets (yeah!) and lots of living areas. It even has a double sized pantry, and cupboards and robes in every little space. No area has been wasted.

The house is brand new; no one has lived in it. It's in a new estate in a valley a little way from the city, and is part of a little village community. And, the size of the property is... 3 acres! Oh yes! No suburbia for the Gutty tribe. Well, not real suburbia anyway, still have some space to run in and be able to kick a ball without it going over to the neighbour's yard.

We take up residence next Tuesday, so will be continuing in temporary accommodation until then. We can't wait to get our stuff and junk out of storage. Books and toys, and Emily only wants to see one thing - her dressups! Typical Emily :-)

So it all worked out - despite a few hiccups and concerns. We have a house to not just live in, but experience life in for our time in the city. We still have Wallaby Scrub waiting for us. Christmas holidays will be spent there as well as any other weekends or 'spare' time we can scratch up. We want to get John down there as often as possible. He needs a little 'defrazzling' and a lot of chill time.

So here comes a new phase of "Wallaby Scrub"; perhaps I'll call it "Wallaby Scrub Goes to Town" or some such thing. No. Wallaby Scrub is in our hearts. It's part of us. The essence and atmosphere of Wallaby Scrub will follow us wherever we make our home.

On Line and Lots of News

What a week!

We arrived in town last Monday evening (10 days ago). Tuesday we inspected the house we were to stay in, and found it unsuitable (size wise). But there was nothing else available so we found temporary accommodation further north at a convention centre. Stayed there until John returned last Sunday. Now there's a story!

There were heaps of tears and nervous chatter at the airport while we waited for the men to return. So many families and friends had gathered to welcome them home. I felt quite emotional knowing any moment John would be walking through the doors. John was one of the last to arrive so I had heart flutters each time a uniform walked through the door. I was a bit of a mess when he finally arrived.

Then, there he was. I had to look twice to make sure it was him. I'd looked at so many soldiers walk through the door, I had to make sure it really was John. It took a moment for the children to recognize him, and I remember saying "There's Daddy, c'mon!"

Hugs and kisses all round. He felt so good to hug. Not that I could really get to him - he'd been swamped by eight other sets of arms. Willem was in John's clutches, Beth had wrapped her arms around his neck, the littlies were clasping his legs, and the rest of us did our best to complete the stack.

The media had attended the arrival also. Apparantly a returning soldier with 8 children and a wife hanging on him made good news. So, John, Elsie and Josiah got to be on the channel 9 news that night!! How cool is that!? I've got movie star kids now! That's what I've been singing to Elsie, anyway. What thrilled me most, was that John got a bit of recognition for the job he had done, and for the sacrifice he had made to do that job. I am so proud of my man.

On Monday morning, the Courier Mail also ran a story which included a picture of us all. We made page 3. The article tells of the scene at the airport, and about the two other soldiers which received special recognition with medals.

I quickly rang the family to brag, and I tried to send hyperlinks to a couple of friends, but it wasn't the right address (sounds about right for me!) But, I sent John out to buy some copies of the paper to keep in my scrap book. When the scanner is set up in the new house I'll be uploading a copy of the article. I just love the photo they published.

So, what of the new house? Well, that's another post.