Geek and Girl

Compassion Church Partnership Launch

2011-11-02T04:14:00.000-07:00

So very exciting news, our awesome church has launched a Compassion Church Partnership. We have two regions we are partnering with, one in the Phillipines and one in Brazil. Every year our Church has a Beyond day, which is an annual event to raise awareness and money for Missions, also they created a beyond mission team. I am overjoyed to announce that I have the opportunity to act in the role of Church partnership co-ordinator. Praying I can do the job and well, God help!!

Our set up

Our team of Compassion Child advocate volunteers

There was such a great response and so far of the 200 children that have been allocated to our church partnership, 173 have been sponsored!!
Dan and I are now Compassion Parents to another blessing from heaven, her Name is Vanessa, she is from Brazil and she is 6. Vanessa doesn't have a Mummy tragically, and I am a Mummy without many children so I am truly blessed to be able to love her, provide a hope and a future for her and to write letters to show her she is loved she is valued and I believe there is a good plan for her life and I WILL use the resources which God has entrusted to me to walk beside her into that future!

See our Shirts, "Overcoming poverty is not an act of Charity, it is an act of Justice!"

So a church partnership links an Australian Church with Compassion and its partner churches in a specific developing community, region, nation, in our case Philippines and Brazil. This mutually beneficial partnership allows every member to be Christ's hands and feet, and together seek justice for children in poverty.

"He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8

Fun with Mum

2011-11-02T03:59:00.000-07:00

Rarely do Mum and I get time off together where we are free, but this day we did. So we decided we would take William into the city to the Dinosaur Museum. Great idea, walked all the way there, "Closed till January for renovations". Will was a bit upset. We softened the blow with water park fun!! and a Boost Juice

Walking along the river, William and Nana.

Pool lagoon fun

Followed by lunch at the Chocolate resturant, wow sooo good!!

We had a great day all together, thanks Mum xoxoxo

Picnic at the beach

2011-11-02T03:53:00.000-07:00

Oh the serenity, watching your child play by themselves happily, while I bask in the beauty of the surrounds and the soaking up of the magnificent sun, damaging my skin but doing wonders for my clotting factors!!

Bit of sun, sand and surf, oh the life :-)

We were right near where the skydivers landed!! He's looking

My Showered blessing from heaven

2011-11-02T03:48:00.000-07:00

Boys day out

2011-11-02T03:47:00.000-07:00

Couldn't get rid of the white eye thing, sorry William you just look a little creepy, but I love you. Apparently red eye doesn't remove white eye!!

William and Grandy had a boys day, Grandy took WIlliam to see the Smurfs!! Nanag and I enjoyed girly chat, coffee and cake, lovely way to spend the day xx

General Everyday

2011-11-02T03:44:00.000-07:00

William and Pa playing twister, not exactly successful but funny!!

We do parks a lot, I love to get outside and play around with Will, fresh air, playgrounds, kick balls, friends, beach etc. I am not a homebody I go a bit stir crazy. Dan on the other hand would happily stay inside and play transformers and lego with Will, the wii and Nerf technology. There is only so much cars and lego a girl can take. I figure we are a good balance and William gets the best of both Worlds, or at least thats what I tell myself ;-)

So ok it is not everyday you get to play trouble with Optimus Prime :-)

Hair-cut Mag time

2011-11-02T03:34:00.000-07:00

So so funny, William reading (ok pretending) a magazine while having his hair cut!!

A Compassion Night in India fundraiser

2011-10-06T21:43:00.000-07:00

The Millenium Development Goals

The workers, look at that food!

Isn't she beautiful!

It Shouldn't end at the Beginning

2011-10-06T21:35:00.000-07:00

Preparations nearly complete

I had an idea to have a child survival fundraising dinner, so while Nana and Granddad were here they happily agreed to help Mum and I run one.

Child survival is one of my great passions, having watched my own beloved son Christopher pass away in my arms. My Christopher died because there was nothing our medical profession could do to save him. The pain of losing a child is indescribable so bad I didn't think it was something I could suffer and still live. It literally sucks your breath away, makes your body heave, your chest ache and you cry an ocean of tears.
Somehow, probably with some divine intervention, healing begins and the pain slowly softens. Never goes, there is always reminders, watching the child you have grow, whenever William is sick that breathtaking fear and ache returns, smells, photo's, plans, clothing. The part of your heart that shatters, glues itself together slowly but it is always broken with some sharp edges that occasionally stab, and you are acutely aware of the love you missed out on enjoying.

This is my story, everyday 22,000 mothers share my story. However unlike my Christopher, for most it is not because saving their child was not possible, it is because they didn't have that "option". Compassion Child Survival works, together we can save lives, build healthy transformed nations, change the statistics and change the world, one child at a time. I couldn't save Christopher, but I can save many "somebody else's child". Will you save "Somebody else's Child", will you live out the greatest command to love Somebody else??

Having been involved with Compassion Australia and having the opportunity to see first had the transforming work in action in India last year I am determined to try and support their work. The Child survival program is one of Compassion's core programs which aims to holisticly care for mothers and children up to age three to ensure they survive and thrive, The beginning of becoming all God intended for their lives.

My little Indian :-)

Together Mum, Nana and I cooked up a storm and it was Yum!!

The dinner cost $40 per couple which bought "New Mum Kits" from the Gifts of Compassion Catalogue, supporting Child survival

We then watched the "Children for sale" DVD which shows the impact of both poverty on both body and mind and how the work of Compassion is transforming children and communties, releasing them from poverty in Jesus name.

This is me with my booklet of letters from my dearest Gerryl from the Philippines!

Teddy Bear Picnic

2011-10-06T19:40:00.000-07:00

Stickers all round, for both Rupert Red and Rupert Green, Nanag made them :-) William was in the local Mag, a star!

2011-10-06T19:38:00.000-07:00

Grandy!

William and his Nanag

A teddy bear picnic with the Greats

2011-10-06T19:36:00.000-07:00

When out with your great grandparents ask for anything because you'll likely get it :-) pretty sweet deal!! How he is loved xoxo

Nanag and Grandy took William to the teddy bear picnic, we packed them up with teddies in hand and off they went for a morning of fun, it was fun wasn't it!!

Soccer Practice

2011-10-06T19:34:00.000-07:00

It's their thing, William and Grandy and the headbutting the ball thing!

Camping, fail!!

2011-10-06T19:32:00.000-07:00

Watching William enjoying himself made the trip worthwhile :-) Thanks Nanag and Grandy for your participation and Mum and Dad for being so well prepared!!

Mum and Dad's $20 a night accomodation was the hilton compared to our $110 dollar a night cabins. William spent his first night in a tent with Nana and Pa :-)

Pa getting his gear off after setting up the tent.

Looks beautiful!! If you can miss the algae, horse and cow poo, not too mention avoinding the very average amenities, cockroach run kitchen and appauling spider ridden dust filled cabin boxes it was lovely!! I was a little disappointed in our first camping attempt with William, because it was a ...........!! On the positive WIlliam actually thought it was great, appart from there being no kids and little to do, he had a hoot skipping rocks and throwing bits of wood into the lake, we only stayed one night!!

Riverfire

2011-10-06T19:26:00.000-07:00

Wooow that's Massive!!

William said he has never seen anything like that in his whole life!!!

Thanks Nana, riverfire was awesome, good idea!!

Family

2011-10-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

These are here for when William turns around and says " You don't love me!!" and I can say I photographic evidence to the contrary :-) planning ahead!!

Us Girls!

Isn't he just so handsome :-) oooh I love you xxx

Riverfire

2011-10-06T19:19:00.000-07:00

Williams' flashing star, supporting the starlight foundation.

Three Generations :-) My Mum, I'm the Mum and My William xoxoxo

William and Daddy, getting ready for the fireworks

Us xoxoxoxo

We decided we would take William to see riverfire this year and we ended up finding a great spot with an awesome view and he thought it was MASSIVE!!

Big 4

2011-09-06T19:18:00.000-07:00

William took this, our little holiday home, we had a great time. We bought board games, ate pizza and coco-pops, did the theme parks, mini golf, jumping pillow, William met other kids. It was a nice fun family getaway.

Top bunk!! William also had the room lights contoller near his bed, so when he woke up everyone woke up! which actually is not any different to normal.....

Willaim thought the onsite restaurant with jumping pillow was totally awesome. By Friday I was feeling much better and joined in the pillow jumping :-)

2011-09-06T19:14:00.000-07:00

I ended up at the Doctors and in bed on the Thursday, so Dan took William Thunderbird egg hunting. They found heaps and they now have their mining license :-)

2011-09-06T19:11:00.000-07:00

William during the parade

He thought the superheroes were the best

Movie World's a winner!!

2011-09-06T19:09:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for his portrait, excited to start with, not so excited after 5 minutes!!

Dan squished into tweety :-) We went into the dress up shop and all William wanted was the $2 batman mask.

Movie World

2011-09-06T19:06:00.000-07:00

The road-runner roller coaster was great, he loved it. We went on three times without have to get off because there was no line up, awesomw!!

Movie world was great, so much better than I remember it 10 years ago. William loved the shows and they have a great area for kids. We had a hoot. Look at the intense concentration on his face while driving :-)

2011-09-06T19:03:00.000-07:00

2011-09-06T19:02:00.000-07:00

Tropical fruit world

2011-09-06T19:00:00.000-07:00

We did the tropical fruit world tour. A tour of the exotic fruit plantation, fruit tasting, animal feeding, a train ride, a boat ride and feeding the ducks!

2011-09-06T18:57:00.000-07:00

Driving us around

Roo's

Dan started to fell a bit motion sick

Holiday's

2011-09-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

Because William was so sick we had to cancel our Figi holiday so we decided to spend a few days at the coast. Unfortunately I was a bit under the weather, ended up with strep throat on anibiotics while we were down there. We still managed a good time I just couldn't do as many rides as I would have liked :-)

Ok so this one we didn't quite realise what it did. We had just been told he was too small still for the kids rollercoaster so we came to this which he was allowed on. There was hardly anyone at Dreamworld that day so we hadn't seen it going and thought it was like a spinning cart thing. On the hop, with velcro seat straps and it starts to spin. Then it starts to tilt until it is totally upright and going upside dowm. Guess what I was saying on the ground ........ what Have we just put our son on!!

"That was awesome mum can we go again!!"
Dan "I feel sick"

Shark attack :-)

Dr Dan

2011-09-06T18:48:00.000-07:00

Dan FINALLY finished his PhD, we are very proud. This was he all ready for his big night. Unfortunately William and I were unable to attend because William caught gastro and it was really severe. He was so sick, for much longer than he had ever had it before. In fact that evening we ended up at emergency, followed by more doctors visits and eventual medical rehydration because he became delirious with it. So worried, so thankfull for were we live and the medical help we have available. Nearly a week he didn't eat or drink.
Dan has his piece of paper and is now Dr!!!

Little leadrer

2011-09-06T18:42:00.000-07:00

So this bushwalk was approx a 5km round trip and William walked the lot, I was so proud of him. The trick is to let William be the leader, if he could lead Dan and I then his legs were fine, he was the "leader man". If you overtook his legs ceased to function and he required carrying :-) This is William pointing up the track, me giggling and lead on leader man lead on!! He's not competitive at all!!

Rock climbing

2011-09-06T18:38:00.000-07:00

After lunch we climbed the rocks to the rock pool to have a better look at the falls. William is very brave a good little climber. The we started back :-)

Lunch stop

2011-09-06T18:35:00.000-07:00

We stopped for lunch at the bottom of the falls.

Our lovely family :-) anyone else is welcome xx

Bush walking!

2011-09-06T18:32:00.000-07:00

End of the day

2011-09-06T18:30:00.000-07:00

Drum beat workshop, loud, very very loud, again not well planned for the age groups. But they enjoyed making loud noise!!

Last activity was sword making with paper folding and nothing left to decorate with :-(

Mmmm ice-cream

2011-09-06T18:28:00.000-07:00

This is me with the gorgeous kiddy crew!!

This is what colours and flavours does :-)

2011-09-06T18:25:00.000-07:00

Action shot

We both had a go of the loops, William took a photo of me! and I took one of us xx

Ice-cream mini balls, fairy floss flavour :-) first for both of us!

Festival

2011-09-06T18:22:00.000-07:00

Next Gypsy Dancing

2011-09-06T18:20:00.000-07:00

Next on the activity list was Gypsy dancing. Not very well run and William lost interest in about 2 minutes. Quite disappointed really, it would have been fine if it were free, but we had to pay for these activities. They look gorgeous though don't they :-)

The Medieval Festival

2011-09-06T18:17:00.000-07:00

William and I went with, Helen and Isabell, Adele Aaron and Sarah to the Medievil Festival. Overall it was poorly organised and run, but the kids had fun because they had each other and a lot of space!!
We prebooked activities for the kids and the first was archery.

He's so cute, Robin Hood!!!

Izzy's Birthday

2011-09-06T18:13:00.000-07:00

William was invited to Isabels Prince's and Princess Party. THis is Prince William and Cinderella

On the Jumping Castle, how cool is that, a Jumping castle in the games room :-)

Helen has been learning face painting, so all the kids had their faces done as a treat. William is a lion/tiger!

The kids had a ball as always running, jumping, games,loolies, cake mmmmmm. Helen always puts on a good spread. Fun!!

2011-06-30T21:16:00.000-07:00

There was a little park at the Strawberry farm with some other kids playing on it. William Mr Social went to join in. William usually finds a friend by running at light speed to some poor unsuspecting preschooler yelling "Will you play with me, will you play with me".
Then all of a sudden while they were playing he turns to them and says
"I'll be back in a minute I just have to ask my Mum something" walks over, I'm intrigued
"Yes Will"
"Mummy why don't you get up in the night to go to the toilet"
In the middle of playing, it was so funny, he is a hysterical little man. Can you guess what we are doing at the moment????
And just in case your interested I do get up, I'd say every night at least once since I had you Will, thank you for your interest!!

2011-06-30T21:15:00.000-07:00

2011-06-30T21:14:00.000-07:00

Strawberry Picking

2011-06-30T21:12:00.000-07:00

We took Nanag and Grandy and Will Strawberry Picking, Wow Yum, best strawberries ever, Dan doesn't even like Strawberries and he tasted and agreed for a strawberry they were good. Nana has never been strawberry picking in her life, I feel like we have added to your life Nan, you're wlecome!!

Family Dinners

2011-06-30T21:09:00.000-07:00

Having Nanag and Grandy stay with us usually means nice big family dinners. Usually see Mark once every 2-3 months but we had two family dinners in two weeks, sooo nice. This is how the night generally goes, eat then........ it's all about Will :-):-) Playtime with Uncle Mark and Danny, with Nana and Pa and Nanag and Grandy it's like "Who will pay me attention now" such choice. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful loving family. Thanks for being awesome guys!!!

Thanks Google

2011-06-30T20:42:00.000-07:00

The weather was a bit cold and windy the other week so I decided I'd google things to do with kids. I found this indoor kids play centre that runs 1/2 dance sessions at 10:30 and 12. It was great, Adele and Sarah came with us and the kids had a hoot, I rather enjoyed the dancing too. They give the kids ribbons, do dance moves, run around with superman capes and fairy skirts, limbo, balloon dance, it was so fun. Thanks Google

Swim Lessons

2011-06-30T20:38:00.000-07:00

Torpedo ready! but are they ready for him???

Horse Racing, pool style :-)

New Swim teacher

2011-06-30T20:36:00.001-07:00

This is William's version of "Please don't get into the pool until your lesson starts!!"

William thinks Brock is the best!

Look at those kicking legs. I have just changed William's lesson time so I could change teacher. It is 5:30pm on a Tuesday now, which can be interesting given he has just dropped his day sleep. We Mum's know what overtired preschoolers a like......... ;-)
But it is worth it, his new teacher is brilliant and he is so much more excited and challenged, His new teacher who I have been trying to get him into for some time is very interactive and FUN! So pleased

2011-06-30T20:29:00.001-07:00

Birthday Present Trialling

2011-06-30T20:29:00.000-07:00

William trialling his birthday scooter/trick thingy Nana bought him. Like with most things William likes to throw himself around :-)

Preschool Cupcakes

2011-06-29T18:51:00.001-07:00

I made super colour sparkle cupcakes for Williams Preschool birthday celebration. So Kind to Mrs Ruth and Miss Michelle, load up a chocolate cupcake with as much artifical coloured sugared decoration as I could and then give them to 20 preschoolers, put them in a confined space and then....... I go home! William liked them and then I think all the kids went for outside playtime, good idea to give it to them for afternoon tea just before they go outside, wise very wise :-)

2011-06-29T18:46:00.000-07:00

It was Nanag's birthday too, we love you Nanag Happy Birthday!!!

More party

2011-06-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

Super girl Sarah. Adele and her creative talent!

William wanted another Doughnut cake, which I was more than okay with, saves time and slicing. This year going with the theme we had a spiderman doughnut cake :-)

Uncle Mark cheating in the three legged race.....

I gave out lolly bags thinking it was getting to the end and they would take them home. They didn't they sat together and ate the lot!

Party Prep

2011-06-29T18:41:00.000-07:00

Where every good man should be, the kitchen :-) at least once a week anyway, or they forget where it is :-) This is Dan who did a great job preparing breakfast for everyone. We were going to have the breakfast down at the park, but it was going to be 6 degrees, so I text everyone and had breakfast at our house with the heater on :-)
After breakfast we went to the park for games and cake!

Mmmmm Pancakes, bacon, egg, fruit platter, juice. For parents as well. I had a good time, I think William did and everyone else seemed to as well which was nice.

Birthday Boy

2011-06-29T18:34:00.000-07:00

Birthday boy up and ready. They both slept great. Isaac went into William's room about 6:30 and said "come on William it's morning time",
William said it's like 5 in the morning Isaac."
Isaac said "no it's day time I'll show you"
then walked to the window and lifted the blind, yes indeed it was day.
William "Oh you're right Isaac it is morning, where are my presents"

Present opening, Wow Nerf teachnology, that Mummy is not thrilled about. William knows the rules and he tells everyone who picks them up.
1. No aiming at people or you lose the freedom to have the Nerf and it becomes Mummies.
2. If you bite the foam darts they go in the bin

Ready for the superhero party :-) too cute

The night before

2011-06-29T18:27:00.001-07:00

This is William the night before his 4th birthday party, he is excited! Excited about the tattoo, excited that Isaac was having a sleepover and that his party was the next day

This is William with His Nanag, they share the same birthday, June 19th, me thinks he has a special bond with his Great Grandparents, which I love.

Nanag and Grandy have just been with us for two weeks, leaving this morning to travel home. Sad, it is always so lovely having them stay with us, William thinks it awesome and gets so excited and they just love on him which is a joy for me to see my child so adored. Also William goes to them first thing in the morning for tea and biscuits in bed, mmmmm stay in bed till 7am such a treat :-)

A Platter please

2011-06-29T18:21:00.001-07:00

William is a fan of the "platter" I introduced this concept some time back because I was trying to come up with lunch ideas broader than sandwich. I tried savoury muffin, he didn't like those, mini pizza is more popular now, spaghetti on toast, not a fan, eggs and soldiers, not a fan. Then out of desperation came the "PLATTER" which is basically sandwich, chessymite scroll, cracker with; ham, cheese, chicken, fruit, vege, frozen peas or corn and vegemite on the side for dipping. This is a HIT!! looks healthy hey, follow with yogurt with sprinkles 100 & 1000's. Here you can successfully undo all your brilliant parenting with an array of artificial colours designed to drive you to distraction all afternoon, but on the bright side they get calcium :-)

Lego Fun

2011-06-29T18:12:00.000-07:00

This is Dan's old lego his Mum and Dad washed and brought over for the boys to play. It's popular, William likes playing with it, partly I think because Dan like playing with it and that's extra fun when someone plays with you. Dan likes lego and Transformers, where do you think William gets it?? I don't mind lego, I built a pyramid and a house/colosseum, they build spaceships, robots and space-stations. Ok so I do the park going out thing, making cakes together, drawing and play dates, the lego transformers thing can be theirs ;-)
Will doesn't ask me to play transformers anymore, I don't think I'm quite cool enough:-) Learning all the names of the transformers, and who does what, fights who, where, when and how is getting close to outside my sphere of even interest :-) Did I say that out loud.......

Building

2011-06-29T18:02:00.003-07:00

William has got very self guided in his building over the las months, particularly with Lego, it is a huge hit. He particularly likes building spaceships, rockets, houses and robots. Watching kids grow, learn and develop is so fun, he is delightful.

It is funny I was walking throught the shops with Will the other day to pop in a grab something and he was walking nicely through the shops holding my hand chatting and It was one of those Wow moments. All the time and effort you put into parenting them, teaching and guiding and all of a sudden you get the enjoy. I am so enjoying the fruits of my Labour, he is my Joy and delight, there is still guidance and heart training going on but for the most part he is a really nice, loving, caring, excited, joyous, woderful little boy and I am so grateful I get to be his Mummy. He is my showered blessings from heaven, the warm fuzzies he stirs up just because I get to love him and the joy and laughter he bring with his little personality is more than anything I could have ever imagined.

Babies are way cute, a little boring and hard work (no offense Will) and teenagers are apparently painful (I was a bit anyway) but preschoolers are awesome fun!! I'm believing that you are going to be an awesome Teenager and Man as well William, I'm speaking into being delightful parenting always, ok William got it..... None of this rebellion stuff!!!!

Love you big big heaps and then some more xoxox

Drawing

2011-06-29T17:47:00.000-07:00

As everyone is probably well aware, Transformers are very popular in our house, with BOTH boys :-) So can you guess what these are drawings of??? Right, transformers, 20,000 of them, anything more than 10 or so is close enough to 20,000!!! I thought it was rather clever. Nice drawing Will :-)

Pressie

2011-06-29T17:26:00.000-07:00

When Mum came home from Perth she brought William a present from Nanag and Grandy. Transformers pyjamas WOW!! One very loved little boy :-) They have been very well worn PJ's :-)

Sometimes

2011-05-29T19:37:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I try and be the good stay at home mum who encourages he children to develop their skills instead of just playing around. It's not really something I'd say I'm great at, the planning your childs day being creative and organising activities......

Miss Ruth is fantastic at that, his preschool teacher, I love Miss Ruth she is such a great preschool teacher, she has month themes planned he has learnt day of the week, months of the year, seasons, I am so glad he got such an awesome preschool teacher.

I have read a great number of parenting books to help develop his character, good job someone is onto developing his brains!!!! This being a mother thing is so much bigger than I ever thought, develop their mind, their character, their heart, their emotions, their gifts and talents, their acedemic and musical abilities, their nutrition. their sleep, their relationships. In between, manage your house, maintain your marriage because that is also important to their sense of stability and wellbeing and probably mine as well, work, maintain realationship with friends and family, pursue your dreams and desires if you have time, don't let yourself go! And anything else we decide is important for us to try and do and maintain because we woman are good like that, we try to maintain all things! Anyone else get a bit tired and overwhelmed sometimes?

So I got given these and thought we would have a go at developing fine motor skills :-) He did really well, very impressed, considering it is the first time I have given him the letter sheets, we have done some tracing and drawing, but he really doesn't last that long, more interested in building space ships out of lego. Honestly I'm busy with the character, I'll pay someone to work on his brains!!!!

William likes snap. I taught him how to play snap earlier this year with the uno cards using the colours, now he is good enough that you don't have to let him win, he will clean beat you, good reflexes. We are working on playing nice and fair and he is getting the hang of losing gracefully, never loses overall but the occasional hand :-)

Early morning TV

2011-05-29T19:17:00.000-07:00

I joined William in his toy story chair to watch some kids TV.

Cubby House

2011-05-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

William made a cubby house for him and a few of his teddies.

Roof = pillow plus fold out chair

This is how you get in and out of the cubby

Friends

2011-05-29T19:12:00.000-07:00

William and Sarah playing in the Park. They are great little friends, Sarah was helping to bury Will in the sand, which he was very happy about!!

Mothers Day

2011-05-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

William made me this at preschool! I'm a happy Mummy, thanks Will, love you xoxo

Mummy version of Wrestling

2011-05-29T19:06:00.000-07:00

Notice Williams' cars are all in lines..... that could be my fault ;-P

Ends in cuddles

2011-05-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

We played chase me mummy, I wore out before Will, which wasn't the original plan :-) He has an unbelievable amount of energy!!

2011-05-29T18:53:00.000-07:00

This is Dan's standard pose ;-) told you I'd blog it!! Dan and his technology!!

Look at that smile!

Happy little man!

2011-05-29T18:41:00.000-07:00

Picnic in the park

2011-05-29T18:38:00.000-07:00

While it was still a bit warm we went down to the beach for a picnic in the park. William and Dan played a bit of soccer. We took sandpit stuff including the big tonka truck which Will raced along the beach. We had a lovely lunch, Will played by the ocean collecting rocks and then I took William for a play in the park While Dan took Sooty and the lovely Miss L who was staying with us for a walk.

Happy Happy Easter present!

2011-05-29T18:28:00.000-07:00

For easter instead of heaps of chocolate we decided presents would be fun. This is William's Easter package from Nanag! I told William to close his eyes while I got the present. He is always saying to me close your eyes Mummy I have a suprise, and don't open them, not yet not yet not yet not yet........ So he stood there with his eyes shut and I kept sating not yet not yet no yet.... and he said why do you keep saying that?? Anyway......

So when I said open, he saw the package, said WOW and opened the box, then it way WOW WOW it's a bumblebee costume!!! Nanag got me bumblebee!

Bumblebee was worn everywhere for a while and a month later he is still worn often, to bed most evenings in fact. Bumblebee has been to the movies, to the park, to bed and William would like to wear him to church to preschool, mummy not so keen :-)

He now also has Optimus Prime, the leader of the autobots!!

We have moved (kinda)!

2011-04-29T21:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally got around to getting our domain name www.geekandgirl.com doing proper redirection. What does this mean!?

Not much really, except that in your address bar, everything will start with www.geekandgirl.com rather than geek-and-girl.blogspot.com

I know nobody really cares, but I'm rather chuffed! :-)

-- Geek =)

It's a Bumblebee Costume!

2011-04-26T06:27:00.000-07:00

Thank you Nanag and Grandy!

Rumor has it that he wore practically nothing else but the bumblebee costume when he went to visit Nana and Pa: It's not often that Bumblebee goes to the movies... ;-)

Four Boys = trashed

2011-04-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

Last night we had a homemade pizza night at our place and had Deb, (Ryan was at the footy), Keira and Charles over for Dinner. Keira, Deb and I met at Tennis and William and Ryan are going to the same school for prep next year. So with Harriett and little Miss L tucked up and sleeping nicely in bed upstairs. We had Isaac, William, Ryan and Luke all playing boy like downstairs.

Isaac, William and Ryan were dressed in their super hero suits, long sleeve running nuts in 28 degree weather, but nobody wanted to take them off because they might lose their super powers!

We had a lovely tea and a great chat, while my couch took a hammering and the playroom looked like this :-) Luckily it cleans up quicker than you think and they had a great time. Boys are boys and there is nothing you can do about it so I have learnt, they'll play wrestling and guns no matter what. We have a couple of $2 water pistols in the upstairs shower and that's it. No guns, but some how a 3 year old boy knows what guns are and anything they pick up is a gun, so for about 3 hours straight they chased each other around the couch, shooting each other and wrestling!! and had a great time, what do you do...... GO BOYS!! just don't damage each other :-)

William the iphone photographer

2011-04-23T23:46:00.001-07:00

Mummy Daddy say cheese!

Preschool easter bonnet parade

2011-04-23T23:46:00.000-07:00

This is William's easter mask he made for his preschool easter bonnet parade.

The Eye

2011-04-23T23:44:00.000-07:00

On our way back to the river for lunch William excitedly asked if we could go on the eye. An excited 3 year old is hard to refuse. So we went. He was bouncing around with anticipation, I love how excited he gets about all sorts of things, he has a really lovely little personality and is such a joy to be around.

I'm hardly ever in photo's so I tried to take one of the two of us on our nice day out. This is the best I could do with my iphone, but I have proof, I was there!!

Looking over the city

Big

We then went and sat by the river and ate fish and chips, William played in the park and we walked back to the car, correction I walked he sat in the stroller, it was a pretty long walk. Nice day :-)

William I love you love you love you are my showered blessings from heaven. I so enjoy you!!

2011-04-23T23:39:00.000-07:00

We walked around and looked at stuff, there were hundreds of school kids there on excursions which made the lines a bit longer, but I think William enjoyed himself, especially the lego we went back to the lego for a second go :-)

There was a room full of purple balloons, we went in there :-) Not sure how that is art? but Will liked it so, whatever...

Tuesday Fun day out

2011-04-23T23:36:00.000-07:00

Tuesday's are our fun day together, where we don't usually have anything planned. Tuesday we hang with friends or go out somewhere together. So this Tuesday we went to GOMA to the Modern art in the 21st Century. THis is the massive lego area they had and people just sat a built things, it was quite spectacular.

We built a building with stairs and a pyramid. THis is William deciding what to do with yet another white piece of lego :-)

Unfortunately William was to short for the slide

Tennis

2011-04-23T23:31:00.000-07:00

Train play station

2011-04-23T23:29:00.000-07:00

Check out the trains

2011-04-23T23:28:00.000-07:00

Jumping Castles are always fun

2011-04-23T23:27:00.001-07:00

Having a look inside Thomas

2011-04-23T23:27:00.000-07:00

A Day out with Thomas

2011-04-23T23:26:00.000-07:00

William listening to the fat controller

They were about to do a train

Photo's with the fat controller.

Dancing to Thomas while waiting in line eating a cheesymite scroll. I have video, it was funny!!

Last weekend we decided we would have a family day out and go to the Thomas Museum. William had a nice time going around looking at all the trains, listening to the stories, playing with trains and in the play station park. It was a good day out and Miss L was such a good little girl. We had a great day :-) I love my family

Winter Jammies

2011-04-23T23:21:00.000-07:00

It was cold for like one night :-) so we went out and got Winter Jammies, William picked Buzz light year, these are his new size 4 winter PJ's. The cold nights lasted about, well, like one night and now we are back to the size 3 transformer summer PJ's because well, it's not cold!!!!! So maybe by the time Winter shows up the pants might not fall down, he is tall enough for size 4, just not generally wide enough :-) William has just cracked 15kg so proud :-) he is a bit of a light weight like his Mum. One of his little friends Rohan who is two weeks younger than him is like a little rugby player, a head taller and weighs nearly 23kg.

Hey Dad lets Wrestle

2011-04-23T23:13:00.000-07:00

One of William's favourite things to do at the moment is Wrestle. It's a boy thing, I wrestle a bit but mostly I leave it to the boys, being playfully beat on by a 3 year old is probably not my first choice of activity. I'm more of the park, puzzles, trampoline kinda girl :-)

Looks fun though, right.....

They have a ball, it is so funny to watch. William ends up bright red and sweaty, tiring him out has it's advantages. Tragically it usually takes more than wrestling, William seems to have a never ending amount of energy and the more fun he is having the more charge his batteries get!!! Daddy is very popular at the moment, especially with mummy!!!

This is William winning, if he thinks he is losing he calls out "I'm defeated"

This I will be encouraging

2011-03-27T04:14:00.000-07:00

William wanted to help me vacuum, that kind of offer doesn't come up to often. Sure Will go for it, every week for as long as you live in my house, sure sure happy to share my vacuum!! 3 vs 13 ........ :-) :-)

William is good with babies

2011-03-27T04:08:00.000-07:00

We had a very new visitor for a few days, only 2 days old. She was divine, seriously the world would have population issues if every baby was a good as she was. This is William having a little cuddle, he gets very excited when we get babies, the first thing he says is, "Is this Esme?". See William has decided that he would like a sister Esme, which is still under divine management. And since William doesn't quite get where babies come from, me picking one up could well be how he thinks they get here. I have explained that Esme would have to grow in my tummy just like Isaac's sister Harriet grew in Aunty Debs tummy. So when someone says it's your baby William he stands up staight and says "It's not my baby, we are just borrowing her" I have to say the more kids that come through our home the more questions we get. Why can't their Mummy's and Daddy's look after them???

Preschool Survive past 5 party

2011-03-27T03:32:00.000-07:00

William's Preschool encourage the parents to get involved with the kids and share something we are involved in or good at. I'm not particularly creative so I thought I'd share about Compassion and being loving and kind, through having a survive past 5 party. I briefly told the kids about India, through an Atlas, clothes and pictures of my trip and then we played games and had party bags. It was a hoot. The posters were put up for about a month and I made little information booklets to raise awareness of the millenium development goals and Micah challenge an Compassion.

William helped me by telling all his preschool friends about our sponsor kids and how sharing means everyone gets the chance to have a good life. The photo William has is of Gerryl, he is 12 from the Phillipines. He has a younger brother Gerrycho, his Mother is Mary and Father Gerry. He would like to be a professional one day like Daniel and I. Through his letters I began to believe his little brother had a tongue tie as Gerryl always asked me to pray for his brother who couldn't speak yet. Which sounded normal until he was getting close to four. SO I had the opportunity to send a monetary gift with instructions for Gerrycho to see a Doctor, and he has a tongue tie. Which Compassion is organizing the surgery and their emergency fund will cover the cost. Our kids so bless our lives and we have the chance to bless and speak into theirs, so worth it! Compassion can change the world!

This is one of the games called"guess who I am" Fun Fun

Millennium Development Goals
In September 2000, all 189 member states of the United Nations signed on to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - a set of eight targets which aim to halve world poverty by 2015. Each target has clear indicators to measure progress and success. Introduction to the MDGs

In short, the MDGs, which all have a target date of 2015, are:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger a. reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar (US) a dayb. reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education a. ensure that all children complete primary schooling
3. Promote gender equality and empower women a. ensure girls have the same access to education as boys 4. Reduce child mortality a. cut infant and child deaths by two thirds
5. Improve maternal health a. reduce by three quarters the proportion of women dying in childbirth
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases a. halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDSb. begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other diseases like TB
7. Ensure environmental sustainability a. reduce by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking waterb. transform the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020c. reverse the loss of environmental resources
8. Develop a global partnership for development a. address issues such as trade, debt, aid and public health to promote economic growth and poverty reduction

For more information please go to http://www.micahchallenge.org.au/

Survive Past Five birthday party
Why:Last year 8.8 million children died before reaching their 5th birthday, largely from preventable diseases. Millennium Development Goal 4 aims to reduce child deaths by two-thirds. The ‘Survive Past Five’ birthday party celebrates the progress that has been made to reduce child deaths so far, and provides an opportunity to take action to reduce In the year 2000 world leaders, including the Australian Government, committed to meet eight Millennium Development Goals and pledged to halve world poverty by 2015. As we look back there is much to celebrate, we are seeing change in our world. For example, the number of children dying has decreased from more than 10 million kids in recent years; last year an extra 400,000 children survived to their 5th birthday than in 2008, and 9 out of 10 children now complete a full primary education. A ‘Survive Past Five’ birthday party is a great way to celebrate this progress and at the same time, show our leaders that people around Australia want our Government to meet our commitment to achieving the MDGs to halve global poverty by 2015.You can help encourage further action by holding your own 5th Birthday Party!

For more information visit: www.micahchallenge.org.au/fifthbirthdayaction

Compassion is an international Christian holistic child development and child advocacy ministry committed to working in partnership with local churches to foster the spiritual, economic, social, physical and emotional development of children living in extreme poverty in over 26 developing countries. compassion.com.au

Australia Day at the Pool

2011-03-27T03:12:00.001-07:00

First off swimming lessons, on a publis holiday? This ia actually William's very first Whales lesson, he has gone up a grade in swimming :-)

Face painting, William picked a Dinosaur

2011-03-27T03:12:00.000-07:00

The making of the Dinosaur

There was a reptile show and yes Mr Confidence patted the snake, no probs :-) We decided for Australia Day we would go down to the pool. They had a jumping castle, blow up pool dinosaur, sausage sizzle and as it turned out swimming lessons on a public holiday. So William had a private lesson, since like us most people didn't think there were any lessons. We were just lucky we went to the pool for the public holiday. We had a great day out and William slept well :-)

Uncle Mark is Awesome

2011-03-27T03:11:00.000-07:00

Stacks on Uncle Mark!! William thinks Uncle Mark and Dannika are the best ever. They came for tea a couple of weeks back and William couldn't wait to wrestle. Lucky Uncle Mark, there are advantages to not being the favourite for a while, there was no jumping off my tummy :-)

The Dentist

2011-03-08T03:08:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I forgot to get a photo. I was a little preoccupied with child safety and a placement but I forgot a photo. I want to go in and ask if I can borrow the chair because I BLOG!!!

So last week I took William for his first dental check and clean as well as my annual check and clean. I was a little unsure how he would go having never really had anything to do with dentist before apart from seeing snippets on the Wiggles. Being the good prepared Mother I am I totally didn't think of getting a book, oops?? I read him one in the waiting room, does that count??

So it was our turn and in we walked. It was about now that I thought he would look for reassurance and I would display great bravery by going first.... No, he walked in jumped in the chair and opened his mouth. Blown away, The dentist and myself, I just about cried I was so proud of him and how self-assured and confident he is. He chatted the the Dentist and assistant, found the Nemo DVD for the roof TV and did everything they asked him to without hesitation.They were so good with him, the lady I see is just fantastic, but He nearly had me in tears. He hopped off the table and said I'm so brave Mummy. Yes your were William, more than I had ever expected, he didn't even look to me for reassurance, I stroked his leg and feet while I sat at the bottom of the chair, just so he knew I was there, but that was it.

Then when it was my turn, he watched asked questions, played on my iphone and stroked my leg. Melt my heart you do William your a delightful little man. xoxoxox And his teeth are perfect :-)

Watching Himself Dancing to Transformers theme music

2011-03-08T02:51:00.000-08:00

This is William wathcing a video of himself dancing to the Transformers theme music. Have you ever seen a smile that bright, he is a happy boy. William is transfomers obsessed, I'm actually trying to tone down the obsession for fear his cells might react to the intesity of belief and transform!!!! Seriously he gets carpet burn from dragging himself along the floor transfomring.........

The dancing is hysterical, he can tell the difference between the theme music for the start and the end of transformers and he will tell us which he feels like dancing to. He will dance it over and over and over and over, good way to tire him out :-) he has learned what the cartoons do throughout the music and transforms, run, flys, reforms as they do, its actually quite impressive as well as a little disturbing :-)

That smile lights up everyday :-)

Preschool

2011-03-08T02:41:00.000-08:00

This is William his first day of Preschool 2011. PRESCHOOL, William starts Prep next year, astounding that my little 1.9kg baby boy is now preparing for SCHOOL!!!! He is so grown up, so confident, bright, determined, inquisitive, well spoken, he blows me away daily. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to be a Mum, William's Mum, there is nothing that could match what I feel for him, my joy overflows, love you love you love you. Mummy will however be continuing to work with you on some of the not so awesome behaviour :-)

Page Boy

2011-02-12T21:14:00.000-08:00

William was page boy at his Aunty Kristin and Uncle Dave's Wedding. Doesn't he just look so smart. I realised we have nearly no photo's, we have a few video's. But Dan was MC and I was running after Will all afternoon/evening. I hope there are some nice one's from the professional photographer that I can use. Until then, it's just Will!!

India bags

2011-02-12T21:09:00.000-08:00

This is me with the bag the CSP mothers gifted me and the other two bags I bought for Mum and Nana. I thought we would all have a photo with our bags to send them as a thank you. So here we are!!

Grandy????

2011-02-12T21:07:00.000-08:00

Be really careful who you tell if your pants keep falling down!!!

Move over Rafa!!

2011-02-12T21:06:00.000-08:00

Take a look people here is the next Rafa, left handed tennis extraorinaire!!

The Australian Open does this to William every year! This year he is having lessons. He likes Tennis, I like watching Tennis, it's a win win. If he gets really good I'm happy to sit and watch for the next 10-15 years. If it were "Cricket" shoot me now....