Natasha's Milestones

Natasha had a pretty exciting day today. We took the trainer wheels off her bike today and Wayne and I did lots of running alongside her. I think tomorrow could be more fitness training for me also as we haven't mastered the balancing act yet. Terror keeps getting in the way and the pedalling stops and the brakes get applied as soon as she suspects that we might let go.

When we got home the wriggly tooth got a helping hand and we now have the lovely toothless grin. The tooth fairy will be visiting tonight so both girls went to sleep very fast so she could do her work.

Meet the newest member of the family

This is Jesse. He is 9 weeks old and already creating havoc around our house.

Emily and Rhys are scared of him and he is smaller than most of their teddy bears.

He likes to sleep in the dolly bath. Natasha loves him and takes care of him. He's very playful and likes company. While I'm typing this he's lying on the floor next to me, quite content.

Echuca

This is the paddle turning.

A lovely adult fairy did this lovely facepainting for the girls. Emily has a cat and a horse and Natasha has a butterfly and a dolphin.

Captain Natasha.

Three little monkeys sitting in a row

We went to Echuca yesterday to have a look. What a lovely town. It is on the border between Victoria and NSW and is about an hour and a half drive from Bendigo. We had a one hour cruise up the Murray River on Pride of the Murray. The kids had a turn in the wheelhouse. We saw some beautiful riverboats, pictured here: The Canberra and the Emmy Lou They date back to the early 1900s when the main way to move freight from the Port of Melbourne was up the Murray River. Some of you may remember the mini series "All the Rivers Run" it was filmed here and we saw the actual boat they used for it.

We also enjoyed the Jazz bands playing on the street, nothing better than a cold Victorian Bitter outside listening to Jazz. They were having a Jazz Festival so there were different bands playing outside every pub and cafe.

They had some Clydsdales pulling a carriage around the block so we hopped in and had a ride up the main street.

On the way home we had a ride on a minature train at Elmore. It had a three km track so was quite a decent long ride. Rhys loved it.

On the whole we had a really enjoyable day, it was a bit like stepping back in time for the day. We will be visiting again soon, probably the winter Blues Festival in July.

A few more photos of interest

Here are some more photos to bring you up to date.

Natasha has started school, she attends Golden Square Primary School. The Lizard is one that we released after it tried to live in our cabin on our curtain.

The Pelicans are on Lake Weeroona in Bendigo and the tram is also a Tourist icon of Bendigo. I have included an up to date photo of Rhys who is walking more than crawling now.

Welcome to Australia

30th December we arrived here and began our new adventure. Our rental car was a red Holden Commodore stationwagon which we had for eight days. Our home was a little self contained cabin at the Dunolly Caravan Park and our first mission was to buy cars. Wayne bought a Toyota Hilux for his gold prospecting in the State Forest and I bought a 1994 Mitsibishi Magna.

Our first morning we were up early and off to Waanyarra to see Kangaroos. We saw big groups of them in the clearings alongside the road. It was really neat to see them in the wild rather than a zoo enclosure. There is a really neat church ruin there as well.

The land here is so vast and so brown. There are long gravel roads everywhere. The paddocks are huge and the country towns are like stepping back in time with the old General Store that sells everything and the close community feel.

The caravan park was really friendly and we soon settled into the routine of afternoon drinks by the duckpond and woodfired Pizza on Friday nights. The people are really friendly and helpful. Most of them are Gold prospectors.

Natasha's first Ballet Production

Natasha was a rabbit in La fille Mal Gardee. Here are some photos of her in her costume.

Catch of the Day!!

Wayne caught this 11lb Snapper in the early hours of yesterday morning while the rest of us were peacefully sleeping in our beds.

Ambury Farm Day

Here are some photos, the fireball was a display of what happens when water is put on a fat fire. As some of you may know, I have already tried this experiment at home. I used a bowl of water rather than a glass. Natasha rode a horse and Emily patted a calf. A great low cost day out. The weather could have been a bit nicer though!!!

More photos from Stacey's Birthday Pool Party

What a great weekend we had!!!!

We have had the best weekend. We began with a great party to celebrate Dad's 60th birthday. Here's a selection of photos of the party and Charlotte and Alexander being baptised, amongst the guests we had 2 Labs, 1 cat and two beautiful goats. (being St Francis day and all) and some lovely photos from Stacey's fifth birthday. Enjoy!!

More Sydney Photos and some of Rhys

Here are some photos from Taronga Zoo, a great view of the city from the zoo and from the ferry leaving Sydney.

The photos of Rhys are taken while he was in his highchair on Saturday morning. I'm doing some photography and blogging practice as we are moving to Bendigo on the 30th Dec and I'm going to attempt a weekly blog for the folks at home. So bear with me as I practice.

Sydney Trip

Had an awesome weekend in Sydney with Natasha and Rhys. We flew over on Friday morning and met up with Gayle in the hotel lobby just before lunch and then we were off on a bus to Circular Quay for sightseeing of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. Lunch in front of the Opera House. Then off to check out the bats and Ibis birds at the Royal Botanic Gardens.
Dinner at Circular Quay and then some very tired kids back to our 16th floor room at the Travelodge.
Day Two, they promised 28 degrees and they didn't disappoint. Breakkie at the hotel, Catch the 8.45am ferry from Circular Quay to Taronga Zoo where we saw Snakes, Gorillas, A fab bird show, Kangaroos, Koala Bears etc. Great Zoo!!! We spent the afternoon on a harbour cruise in the hot sun and finished the day with a yummy dinner at the Rocks.
Day Three: Bondi has a six floor shopping Mall where I happily parted with the remainder of my money on kids clothes and toys.
We finished our fabulous holiday with a fast flight 2.30 hours with Qantas.

Kristina's Life at home

Kristina's Life at homeSchool hols are nearly done and work has started back. I'm selling computer software to the HR Depts in the Hospitality Industry.
This is going to be the year that we move to a bigger house, become rich and famous etc etc. I'm feeling positive anyway!!! One day I'll figure out how to put photos on this site.

November

November is almost gone and it's time to reflect.
We have decided to sell our house and move to a cheaper place. This one income life is hard to manage.
I am still doing telesales to earn some pocket money and my website is ticking along at www.babytime.co.nz I wish it would make some money.
Healthwise I have gallstones and am awaiting a surgery appt. This is a very painful condition where you actually look forward to the operation.
The kids are all well. Rhys is a growing happy healthy boy and Emily is enjoying Playcentre, I'm enjoying being a playcentre mum also. Tasha is enjoying school and still has the same boyfriend.
Rhys has learned how to roll over and is awaiting his first tooth.
Overall I'm still enjoying being at home but I have some hurdles to jump at present. Roll on next year!!!

Introduction

Hi, my name is Kristina and 3 months ago I began a new life at home. Until now I have been a diligent full time workaholic with two little girls in Daycare.
Now I have a new son called Rhys and I have started my new role as a stay at home mum.
My eldest daughter Natasha has started school, she is five and already has a boyfriend called Jayden.
My middle child is three and has begun Playcentre. Her name is Emily.
This blog is going to be about the challenges of being a fulltime mum at home, plus a website owner and a part - time telemarketer.
Oh, did I mention correspondence school student?
I would welcome comments from anyone that reads this and advice is welcome also. My website is www.babytime.co.nz