Lunch with Daddy

A couple of weeks ago, the kids and I took a bus to downtown Sydney to go to lunch with Phil. Aside from Penny discovering a love for collecting beer bottle caps while waiting for her daddy, there's not a whole lot to say here other than we love him....like a lot.

Rewind: Penny's Birthday

Over the craziness of our Christmas travels, our little Penelope turned 3! Three is a big deal. I feel that's the age where they're ALL toddler--no more baby :(. Penny has been a complete delight the second she's entered our world. She continues to surprise us with her outgoing personality and zest for life.

Of course, she had to open some presents.

Later in the day, some of her cousins joined in the celebration! Some mom's do party favors and themes, I put all the kids in a room with about 10 balloons and let them have at it.

Wait, I take that back. We did play a rousing game of Pin the Tale on the Donkey.

AND we had party favors! See..??? (haha, get it?)

And of course, a little birthday cake!

My Uncle Kelly and his cute family came a little later to join in the festivities. It was so fun to see them and have them their for Penny's day. Unfortunately, I was too busy visiting and eating cake to take photos of all of our fun company.

Happy birthday Penny Rae! Oh how we love you!

My Heavenly Father Loves Me: Aussie Style

Penelope has to give a talk in primary tomorrow. I had an idea to show some pictures of her while she spoke, but needed to upload the photos to the Internet so we could download them on Phil's ipad, so I figured why not put her little talk on the 'ol blog.

Just a little side note, it was a rather fun/easy idea for those who need a primary talk for a sunbeam. Most of the photos we took today just while we were at the beach.

Whenever I hear the song of a bird

Or look at a blue, blue sky

Whenever I feel the rain on my face or the wind as it rushes by

Whenever I touch the grainy sand

 Or walk by a big gum tree

I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world, Heavenly Father created for me

Scarf Models

Today was one of those days that instead of cleaning up after breakfast, making beds and doing laundry, I grabbed a pair of scissors and turned the leftovers of my new "sweat cutoffs" into a child size scarf for Penny. After forcing Penny to put it on--it only seemed right to match it up with a messy up-do. It was at that point the only appropriate thing left to do was a photo shoot. It was like I was caught in my own version of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" except mine would be titled, "If You Give a Bored Mom a Pair of Scissors."

So after about 10 minutes of trying to get Penny to "work it" infront of the camera... 

...we quickly came to the realization that modeling is not the career path for her.  This was how she really felt about the whole thing.

Turns out, Penny didn't even really like the scarf. Apparently, she's not as fashion-foward as her mom when it comes to making sweat scraps into accessories. I had to bribe her with an episode of Diego to get her to keep it on long enough for me to take some photos.

BUT WAIT!!

Lest we forget....Penny is not the only pretty girl in this house. Sheesh! Let alone a much more willing participant.

And even though she couldn't tell me...I'm quite certain Hazel loved what is now her new scarf. Even if it's just to chew on. Hey! Stylish scarf-like bibs for teethers! Ya know--something to soak up all that drool... it was my idea...you read it here first. Anyhow, back to model #2...

 Isn't she just a natural?

And finally, for all you men out there. A touch of masculinity. (I needed something to do with the other leg.) These, I'm sure, will be appearing soon in a store near you. But for those of you who can't wait that long, just remember, find a pair of old sweat pants. Cut them off at the knee and shove the remains over your sons head. Bada-bing-bada-boom.

Happy Australia Day!

January 26 turned out to be Australia Day. And really, who doesn't love an additional holiday to celebrate, so celebrate, we did.  We went to Darling Harbor which is right by Phil's work and enjoyed the festivities there. There were a lot of street performers along with music which meant some dancing, of course. We also explored their Maritime Museum which was pretty cool. We even got to tour a battle ship from 50 years ago.