"Mummy they have destroyed our house"

Firstly here is a piccie of the outside. We have some of the windows in, unfortunately I didnt take a very good picture so you can really see them. The others are sitting in the garage waiting to go in.

The above words were uttered by Jessa when we got back tonight. The lounge and kitchen are now gutted in preparation for the roof to come off tomorrow and a new one go back on the next day. Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly. (and doesnt cut my internet for too long, it was gone most of the day today lol!)

Charlie found a great hiding place

As soon as Charlie saw the camera we had the obligitory ' cheeeeeeese' that boy is too cute for his own good - notice the tomato sauce stained face from the fish and chip tea! No kitchen up and running yet so we are winging it for a few days.

More pet day.........

The grand parade - dogs and lambs all together - Jessa lamb nearly got bitten by a little jack russell puppy but survived to tell the tale with no adverse effects.

Lauras mosiac

Daniels flower arrangement

Jessica's flower arrangement

Might have some more pictures later, we have roof on the house, just about finished.

Pet Day

Friday was pet day at school. Jessa's first pet day as a school girl and not a preschooler. She took her lamb Charlotte and netted herself a second prize for her lamb handling skills.

She also scooped a prize for her flower arranging and a collage picture she made.

Luckily the weather was nice to us with only a small shower during the day. One of the best comments I heard made to the judges was from one of Lauras friends. She was asked where she got her lamb from, her answer, rather perplexed at why the judge didnt know - " a sheep!"

Laura and Missy who came first in thier class
Daniel and greedy who came second in his class.

Daniel talking to the judges.

and the roof trusses are on - woohoo!

So todays efforts from the builders have resulted in the roof trusses going up as far as the old house. We are finally looking like a house shape!

Seen from the front as you would drive up the drive and into the garage (which is on left)

From the back (west side) this corner is our new bedroom and going on from there is the spare room and onto the dining area and lounge.

And looking at where the lounge will be - this part has to be joined in but we will do it at the last possible minute so we can still use the kitchen and lounge and not have to move out for long. Funnily enough there isnt too many places that can accomodate a family for 7 cheaply enough for us survive!

Frames up..............

Yay -- so the frames were put up yesterday, we have outside walls and internal walls, I can finally walk through and visualise how its all going to work. :-)

This one is taken from the garage end and back side. The perspective and angle make it look huge but its not that big!

The first day at school

One very excited little girl - bag packed, new books and pencils all named and lunch made. Hi Vis vest on (she was very excited about this part) Jess has been looking forward to going to school for months. She asked me if she really got to stay all day and still go back the next day too! Her new teacher tells me she has heaps of confidence and got up in front of the whole class and told news - not that I ever thought she didnt have confidence lol!

She is in her element and loving her new journey!

Jessica's princess party

The princess party feast - yummy gut rot!

Sunday saw a very excited princess Jessica dress up in her new princess dress for her very own birthday party. We had it at the playgroup - mainly becuase there is more room and because a building site is not a good place for having an extra 6 little princesses!

Laura helped me to set up everything and run the games - here she is doing the pass the parcel.

We made a cardboard castle in keeping with the princess theme and it was a great hit.


The princess herself.

Princess Jess in her humble abode!

The castle cake for the princess party. Jess loved the candle.

and last but not least

The frames finally arrived for the house mid afternoon. By the time they were unloaded there wasnt much of the working day left for the boys to sort and assemble them so they got a couple up. But yay - come next week we will start looking like we have a house. Exciting!!!!!!!

Here is the truck dropping them off - it was a shame the boys were having thier nap becuase they would have loved watching. The driver has a special belt around his waist with all the controls on it and just walks around while he manouvers the crane by remote - very nifty!

and of course to finish the day.........

Jess got to choose birthday tea so we ended up with pizza and chips (funny that!) She got some more presents from Nana and Gegen and Auntie Brodie and Uncle Anton (who really enjoyed the wammy too!) We finished the night off with a slice of chocolate cake which was enjoyed by all. I will make the special birthday cake for Jessas party on Sunday.

Last day at kindy

It is with much sadness but much excitement for the future that Jess leaves kindy. Today she had her kindy birthday where she was treated like a VIP for the morning. Winton Kindergarten is an awesome place with fantastic teachers who create a hugely enriching, fun, motivational and creative learning atmosphere for the children. There are so many opportunities for the kids and Jess has really blossomed under thier guidence. She is more than ready for school and they have instilled such a passion for learning and inquiry in Jess.

Today she shared a special morning tea with all her morning kindy friends. She wore her special '5' crown for the day and got to sit on the special birthday chair.

She also got to have a special birthday ceremony where her group teacher talked about her time at kindy and shared her profile book with everyone. There was also a special dvd with photos of Jess over her time at kindy. What an awesome memory for Jess to have as she gets older.

Sam, Charlie and I stayed for the morning and have taken heaps of photos. I will share a couple here. Although it is sad for us not to be going to morning kindy anymore we do of course have a special afternoon kindy boy in Sam so we will still be able to visit and Jess can keep her teachers up to date with all that is happening at school. (The older kids still love coming in to see the teachers, the head teacher started not long after Laura first went to kindy and it is so neat that she has taught four of our children now, heres hoping she is there for a few more years and Charlie and our little bean might get to blossom under her awesome teaching too.)

Jessa is 5!!!!

Much excitement this morning when a little girl woke up a big 5 year old. Of course presents were on the top of the agenda. Lucky for 5 little people Grannie had a parcel for each in the box she sent.

Jessa got some great things - the Wammy is so much fun (awesome stuff, bet we see it here later in the year, the kids have had an absolute ball - well and the adults too!)

The zip its are neat too - apparently on being taken to school by the older kids - they are, like, really cool! And of course stickers always go down well!

Some time ago we saw an awesome gold and red princess dress in the toy shop - it was a little spendy so I decided I would make one for Jessa (one must have a new dress for ones princess party one knows!) So a trip to spotlight and several nights (and a few days) later here is the new dress, made up in the pattern that was used for my little flower girl at my wedding.

Charlie in his ' doog, oof oof' Hat - he thought it was pretty cool.

More house pictures..........

So some updated house pictures......we now have floor and blocking around the garage. Frames were supposed to be here tomorrow but they are a bit behind at the factory so it looks like it might be Friday. :-( Never mind, I guess we had to have a couple of set backs and a couple of days isnt too bad!

Oh and one of my gorgeous little bubba who was running around on the new floor while I took pictures..........

Blocking done........

The progress so far..............

So the extension to the house is started. Here is the progress so far. Today we have the block layers here so I will take pics of that tonight and add them later.

Before - the house as it was.

The kids watching from their vantage point! (they even ate lunch up there after they rigged one of my baskets up to a piece of string and hoisted everything up, we wont go into how they left it tied to the tree afterwards and it rained!)

Uncle Jamie with his digger - digging the foundations and boreing the pile holes.

Sam having a ride - when he saw the camera we got a huge smile!

Reinforcing rods, piles all placed and ready for the concrete

Concrete truck bringing the concrete - was the source of much entertainment for several small people around here! Lucas didnt even notice that daddy had left becuase he was too busy watching the truck back into the drive!

Dad and Sam surveying the work that evening.