Traming it around town

The kids actually prefer to take public transportation rather than our cars, its a form of entertainment for them at this age I guess. So we did some errands & saw a few friends via tram the other day.

Thanksgiving

Here are a few photos from our impromptu Thanksgiving dinner. I only found a turkey the day before (whole, unfrozen turkeys are not easy to come by here)! I love the recipes from my Williams-Sonoma Thanksgiving cookbook- I tend to make them all year round, not just for the holiday.

At the farm...

Thats my girl! Anna making a mad dash (dont mind M hiking up his trousers in the background, ahhem) for the Coach store- the very first one in our state, only the 2nd one in our COUNTRY! These people don't know what they've been missing!

Christmas train 2009

I took Noah (twice and counting) to ride the Christmas train downtown...It's great going so early in the holiday season as there are no queues and he is able to ride it as many times in a row as he wishes! Here is a little video- he's in the orange top, waving as he goes past.

Cappuccino at the French Cafe

When I saw this swimsuit for Anna, I lost most self-control, and really didn't leave myself much choice but to buy it. I just love that its shamelessly, unapologetically, in your face, over the top, girly. I've recently discovered the clothing label behind this gorgeous girly design- "Kate Mack", and I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for beautiful pieces for their little princesses.

I couldn't help myself with this cute little butt shot:)

Cooling off at the beach on a scorching spring night

Michael gave me a sewing machine as a gift a few years ago and I've never really gotten around to using it. Threading the machine is where I always got stumped...clearly not much was happening on my path to becoming a master seamstress. Ha! Anyway, the other day I decided that I wanted to make a Christmas dress for Anna as the selection in the stores here is quite limited. So, I did. With a matching headband. For my first try, I must admit that Im fairly happy with the result- especially considering that it had lining, pleats all around, and a zipper (if you sew, you might agree that these tasks take lots of practice to perfect). I had no idea what I was getting myself into, I simply picked out a style I liked, bought the pattern and thought I'd whip it up that night. Well, that certainly didn't happen. But Im just happy I finished it.

VERY Anna Gracie aka "The Walking Temper Tantrum"

Noah and I had a day out at the beach the other day, just the two of us. He's great company these days and lots of fun at this age. He was most thrilled to see some jellyfish, albeit dead ones, in the wild (as opposed to at the aquarium). Naturally he just thought they were sleeping, as he does the fish and prawns in the coolers at the supermarket.

Oaks Day

I recently went with a group of my girlfriends to "Oaks Day", one of the celebrated days of the spring (horse) racing season. Fun was had by all!

We had a fun Halloween. We were looking after our niece and nephew overnight, so all the kids had lots of fun playing together. We made cupcakes and the big kids helped Noah decorate them at his picnic table. Then Anna woke up from a nap and promptly ate most of Noah's cupcakes. Later on, everyone was excited to see Uncle Brad come over and we all ventured out to try to trick-or-treat. Since its not really the done thing here, we had to pick and choose which houses looked trick-or-treat friendly and try them. We got candy from about 10 houses, which apparently was a huge success by the standards here.

We carved our pumpkins last night, on Halloween eve. Since its spring here, and sometimes quite warm, the pumpkins rot very quickly if carved too far in advance. Noah drew the "face" on the pumpkin and we carved it for him. He loved seeing the candles in them on the front veranda, and wanted to sit out there (in his "mummy" pajamas no less) with them all evening!

Trunk or Treat

We had our Halloween festivities this weekend, at an annual event put on by my American women's association- called "Trunk or Treat". Its held in a big park and everyone decorates their car trunks and the kids get to trick or treat from car to car, and there are also traditional activities complete with bobbing for apples. They don't really "do" Halloween here, so this event is a nice way to still allow the kiddies to be involved in their native holidays and cultural events-- and to show the Aussies how its done. Noah's friend Annabelle and her family joined us this year. (oh, and Anna is supposed to be a cheerleader but she wanted nothing to do with the pompoms so its hard to actually tell what her costume is)