My Pop

Anzac day always makes me think about my Pop William Henry Brown (aka Bill) 

and his dad, Gus.  Both of them served in the World Wars and

 I am extremely grateful for their service and sacrifice.  I took these photos of Charlotte with Pop at Bella's baptism recently.  I was caught out a bit with the moment between them and wasn't really ready to take the photos but I snapped anyway because it was so beautiful.  They didn't exchange a single word, just smiles and giggles.  Pop loves being around his grand and great grand children and when moments like these happen I am even m

ore grateful that we live in such a beautiful free country 

and that I have a wonderful loving family.  

I think these pictures, although very amateur, depict the Anzac spirit and what they fought for.

Love you Pop x

going going gone...

For ages Bella has been asking me to cut her hair into a short bob like mine.  I have been a little opposed to the idea simply because with her hair being long she can easily do it herself by pulling it quickly into a pony tail. It's easy to put up for dancing, swiming and soccer etc.  She has pretty hair and it suits her long. Eventually I came to realise that she is probably old enough to make decisions about her hair now so two weeks ago (I know I'm a bit slow blogging it) we got the scissors out and went for the BIG CHOP!  here are the photos.  I'm interested to know what you think Bride.  

BEFORE: Bella with her cuzzy, Jack at Christmas time

The first snips! 

(Bella very excited, me very nervous)

AFTER: So beautiful.

We reached a compromise with the length.  

Long enough to fit in a pony tail but short enough to be a bob.

Giselle Charli Charlotte Sayers

Charlotte was sooooo excited to receive a beautiful card in the post sent all the way from the UK by her sweet little friend Leilani Challis (It actually arrived on her birthday Hannah - thanks so much xx) It's the one with the little swinging girl. It's so gorgeous, all of the parts move and she actually swings!!

Charlotte had a birthday this week. She's 4 now! Charlotte loves to play 'make believe'. When I over hear her saying something along the lines of " ok Bella I'm her and you're her, and mum is the wicked witch" it reminds me of my own childhood playing similar games with Bridey. Can you remember pretending to be Daisy from the Dukes of Hazard Bride?? I was married to Bo and you got Luke!! anyway...

Not long ago Charlotte declared "I'm Charli now mum, not just sometimes but ALL the time, and it's going to be my REAL name ok?"

Then... last week we borrowed the movie 'Enchanted' and Charlotte has since declared "I'm Giselle now mum ok, my first name is Giselle, or princess Giselle, my second name is Charli and Charlotte is my last name ok mum, so you remember ok mum".

This announcement came the day before her birthday. So who was up til 2am making a "princess Giselle" dress (reinforcing her neurosis)?? yep me, the one with the great big "sucker" written across her forehead! Well it paid off because she LOVES it and I got some cute shots with my new camera I don't know how to use!

Happy Birthday Giselle Charli Charlotte Sayers, I love you xxx

The best thing about making birthday cake is licking the beaters, right?

Miss Molly

This post is for Samuel, George, Jack and Mia...

Molly is loving life at the moment guys.  She and Edd were best mates! now that he has gone though Molly and Rosie get on really well.  Every morning I take them for a walk/run around our neighborhood.  

She's looking pretty trim now I have to say.

When Ma and Pa get home this week 

it will be sad to see Molly go home. 

She has been a little bit of a ratbag though...she has done two wees in Reuben's room!  and a poo in the girls room!  Plus she dug up my vegie patch!!!  

Good thing she's pretty cute othersise she would be 

D E A D by now.  

Apart from that she has settled in quite nicely.  

Oh yeah,  and the other day when we went for our walk,  I took the dogs 'off lead'.  She was very good, and didn't run away at all.  IMPRESSED????

Are you an animal lover?

'cause I am!!

Edd has had an interesting journey of late.   As a family we decided to keep Edd if he was still with us by the end of Easter.  The very next day we received 5 emails enquiring about him, including one from Washington DC and one from Hawaii and one from Saudi Arabia.  During the next few days enquiries were flooding in so we sat down as a family with all of the application forms and chose a family living in Geelong.  They were excited, we were excited and I think that even Edd himself seemed to pick up on it and was a little bit excited too!!  So off he went to Geelong.  One week later I received a call from his new people explaining they had had an unexpected death and were unable to give Edd the time and attention he deserves.  I have since found Edd a new home with a lovely family here in good ol' Tassie.  So he's a well travelled doggie.  He now has a loving mum and dad and two brothers, 9 and 11, plus a sprawling property at Acton to run amok on!!  Edd was really special to us so I'm glad he's found the right home.  I think I'll have to go pay him a visit in a few months.

Edd right before heading to the airport

Checking out the freight yard with Charli

WEDNESDAY

For the last two weeks Wednesday has been the most interesting day for me.  

Last week we saw the Kym Lardner performance at school and today we saw him again!! at Waimea primary school in Sandy Bay.  During the week Kym made contact with me.....  anyway to cut a long story short, he invited me to come along to this morning's performance to take a few photos for him! So Charlotte and I set off, camera in hand, to take a few shots.  I was very nervous but it was FUN.  He introduced me to the kids as his "Photographer friend".  I had to laugh (on the inside) because I've only had this camera for about 4 months and I don't even know how to use it properly yet (I need your help Chelsea).  I managed to get quite a few good shots though and he is going to use them for some publicity!! woohoo.  Anyway we now have the new CD,  His 'Kym Larnder' book which is a compliation of previous books,  and another copy of the DVD (it will be in tomorrow's post heading your way Bridey!!! - it's signed) all thanks to the generosity of Kym.  Pretty Cool hu?  Anyway I mentioned that I would like to write a kids book.  I've had a story in my head since I was a kid.  It's an adaptation of a story my dad told me when I was a little tacker.  Dad just made it up on the spot and I loved it.  As I've told it to my own kids over the last 13 years, it has gradually evolved and I think it would be a great book.  So I'm gonna do it!!  I don't care whether it gets published or not, I just want to write it - for me.  Kym said to send him a copy and he will do a mock up!!  You know what they say...It's who you know, not what you know!!!

We had a great day on Wednesday.  Our school had a visit from Kym Lardner (children's author and illustrator and storyteller).  If you aren't familiar with his work, get familiar, he's fantastic.  A few years ago my sister, Bridey, introduced his  work to me and so we bought some cd's.  They are so popular with our kids, everytime we go on a long (or long enough) trip they ask for 'McMuscles' or 'Bandaid' or 'Sunglasses'.  I have to admit I love them too!!!   At the beginning of term a newsletter came home from school with a list of 'dates to remember'.  When I saw 'April 1st - Kym Lardner Performance'  I was so excited.  Well he lived up to his reputation.  Despite having a difficult audience, he entertained with ease.  We had a ball.After the performance Charlotte and I spoke with Kym for about half an hour.  Charlotte informed Kym of everything going on in her life and that of her siblings at the moment.  She is such a social kid!  Well Kym loved her and so GAVE her one of his DVD's and a poster of his new book "The Naked Penguin" (both with signed inscriptions).  

Well if I haven't watched and heard the DVD about one hundred times since wednesday, my name's not Blanche!!!  It's amazing to watch Charlotte watching it...no matter how many times she hears the same jokes and funny stories, every time is like the first and she bursts out laughing and says "mum, you've gotta see this, it's so funny".

Anyway check him out, his dvd's, cd's and books are available from the ABC Shop.