Merry Christmas

Hey everyone! How was your Christmas? Ours was great, with the girls totally getting spoilt once again. I have a longer Christmas post I will add when I have more time, but for now I'll leave you with our Christmas card and couple of layouts.

The big reveal

Yay! We're finally in our new home! Here are the pics you've been waiting for. First, the view from the street:

Now looking at the back of the house:

And how cool is this view? This is what we see from our lounge, kitchen, dining room and 3 of the bedrooms:

Brooke's room:


And Elisa's room.




The rest of the house is still in the process of being set up and decorated. Most of it is done, but we still have a way to go. Brooke is enjoying being able to walk the 5 minutes to school, and I'm enjoying not having to drive her every day. Both girls LOVE having their own rooms, and have transitioned smoothly to the new environment without a fuss. We made one of the spare rooms into a playroom too, which they just adore. It's like all their toys have a new lease of life in them now, and Elisa especially spends a lot of time in there during the day, pottering around with the Barbie dolls, the books, and the play kitchen.

I'll have more photos in the days to come, once things get tidied up a bit. I gotta go now - I'm lying on the floor typing this and it's quite uncomfortable. (The study will be the last room to get set up). Talk to you guys soon.

Counting down

Our house is a mess. Half of it is packed ready to move, and the rest just seems to be wherever Elisa has dropped it. LOL. It doesn't seem to matter how often I tidy, it's a disaster zone 5 minutes later anyway. I can't believe we only have 5 days till the big move - there is still so much to do. On Wednesday Mum is kindly coming up to help me clean the new house ready for our stuff to be moved in Friday. The house has been sitting on the market for several months and needs a good dusting, vacuum, cupboards wiped out, windows washed etc. I so don't want to move in and THEN have to clean it - best it's done before. She'll then take Elisa to Yvette's for the night, and pick up Brooke after school Thursday and take them both back to her place for a couple of days. Thanks Mum! I'm all excited about the move. I'm excited about all the stuff we get to buy for the new house too, LOL. But first we have to get through all the packing.

Here's my latest LO of the girls playing. I used Sya's Diane-spiration template and Sabrina Dupre's Shabby Tidings collab kit.

My baby turns 2

It's got to be tough being the 2nd child in a family. I should know, being a 2nd child myself (LOL, just kidding. Yvette will tell you I had a free ride I'm sure). Poor Elisa didn't get the big party that Brooke had for her 2nd birthday. Yes, she had dinner at Burger King, a cake and a present (emphasis on A present), but the rest of the day was pretty low key. She was obviously not phased in the slightest, having no idea what a birthday is anyway, but I still feel a little guilty. She got to open more presents the following day as they arrived in the mail, and will get the rest at Christmas once we're in our new house. Since we're already boxing up our gear, we figured to keep her bigger presents wrapped for Christmas Day, and let family buy something to decorate her new room at a later date.



Elisa really is such a cute little kid. Her speech is improving in leaps and bounds, to the point where she mimics nearly everything Brooke says. She's like Brooke's little shadow outside of school hours. Has to do everything the same as her big sister, and follows her around like a little groupie. And Brooke is great with her too. Spends quality time playing with her after school without being asked.

Speaking of school, Brooke is doing great. Loves it there, and the teacher says she's just wonderful in class - fully participates in all the activities, and has no worries at all. Actually two more kids have started since she did, so she's no longer the new one I guess. She brings home a different reading book everyday which she reads to us herself. I can't believe how quickly she picks things up. Actually I can - she's always been like that. Must get that from me. LOL.