Happy 3rd Birthday Jessica

Our day started with a bright smiling face asking if she could have her birthday. Yes, Jessy turned 3 years old today. Once we managed to get everyone out of their beds and into ours, Jessica was able to open her cards and presents. She has changed so much over the past few weeks, I look at her and can see a beautiful little girl - she's no longer a toddler. Grandma gave Jessy a little pair of jeans, a hooded jacket with fake fur around the hood, and a pair of leggings. Aunty Sandy sent her a card, too. We gave her a Jessica-sized folding chair and a farm mug for her cuppas. The chair has a place for cans, but Jessy used it for her dummies! How cute is she?

Happy 3rd Birthday Jessica!!!!!

After a very very very busy morning cleaning, sorting, dismantling, and then more cleaning, we stopped to take Jessica out for lunch. She chose McDonalds. Happy Meals all round for the littlies, and Big Mac Meals for the biggies. There's a pretty cool park at the local Maccas so the kids had a lot of fun playing freeze chasey. After everyone else had finished eating, Jessy hadn't taken even one bite of her hamburger. She was so taken with the toy in her meal, she hadn't thought of eating.

After our Mac Attack, we returned home for more laundry, more cleaning, more packing. But now, the end was in sight. The kids had really had enough and started to drift away from the activity. I can't blame them, I'm really over this whole moving thing, too. They turned on the computer and had some games, the kids from up the street came to play cricket for a while, as well. And while John knicked out to run an errand, we got birthday cake and tea ready for supper. Jessy made sure that the cake was OK well before serving time. (We could tell by the little nibble marks around the edge.) She sang the 'Happy Birthday Song' to herself, which we got on video of course, and tried so hard to blow her three candles out. Each time she blew, her little fringe would fly up... she is so adorable. We ended up giving her a little windy assistance. She had a nice birthday, and we all enjoyed it with her.

So the little ones went off to bed, eventually, while the older children chilled out with John. Dave, Christine and Ashley came over to bid us farewell, they are wonderful neighbours, we will certainly miss them. Had there been more coldies in the fridge Dave would have stayed to chat. But then again, some people have to go to work tomorrow...not us though .

So here I am, last night at this house. We've been here five years now. Wow, how time flies. But I'm not sentimental about this place. It's been a good place for the children to live, work, play, learn. We're going to a much better place though. Not long now till we get to Wallaby Scrub.

No posting would be complete without a picture of our little man. This one is of Willem helping sort the garage last night. Don't know who put the ear muffs on him, but he was pretty pleased with them. (Maybe it was the peace and quiet he had never experienced before!)

Johnny returns

Sunday afternoon saw John return. It was so nice to have him home again. Now for the final thrust of the packing. Because of his rigorous schedule when he's away, John tends to collapse for the first day. He took full advantage of Monday morning to rest and recuperate. But then it was work, work, work, in the afternoon.

Horror of horrors, John became sick with the same tenacious virus that had hit us. And even now, Tuesday 3pm, he has been unable to rise from his bed. Poor thing.

So, we have been extra busy today. The orthodontist, followed by shopping at Bunnings, home for packing, and the never ending cleaning and laundry. Oh, I can't wait to arrive at Wallaby Scrub... and only 4 more nights.

The Clash of Metal...

Swords again! It was a bit of a mad rush to get to Elsie's practice session yesterday. We'd been up collecting some things from BCF (one of our favourite shops), coming home to finish preparing the meat for jerky, knowing full well that we would be at a ladies' evening later on. I was rushing around madly trying to finish jobs and tidy the house in readiness for John's return today.

While Elsie sparred and clashed metal, the children and I sat in the shade on our picnic blanket. We had wandered up to Aldi and picked up a few picnic supplies, so the children were quite content to hang around.

The evening with the ladies was a success. We watched the next installlment of the Duggar Family and the birth of their 16th child. Amazing. We also saw them complete the 7,000 square feet mansion that they have built themselves - all debt free. Makes me start to think of our dreams for Wallaby Scrub.

Obviously we are hoping to build our dream home one day on our block. All the way home last night we discussed what that included. A full library with sliding ladder was on the top of the list. We thought lofts were pretty necessary, verandahs all around, and lots of wood stoves. We want to build a house that is very Australian, with timber from our own block. I can't help thinking what a great learning opportunity an adventure like this will be for the children.

Well, without a vision the people perish, so the scripture goes. So I am going to hold on to my vision of the Gutty family home and work towards seeing my dream realized.