Kate

It's rare to get a good picture from Kate and so here is one!

Just a little bit about Kate, just in case you don't know her!

Kate:
- Loves Pooh bear, Lumpy (if you don't know who this is, you are missing out!). She loves Pooh bear so much that she struggles to watch the "Pooh Bear" movie as Pooh gets into trouble (just between adults, Pooh is a pretty stupid bear who only thinks about his stomach ;)!)
- "mama' Doggie - the red one. In fact this is doggie number three. We started with two once we realised Kate couldn't be without it. One got lost and so another one was bought. Dog number 2 is pretty worn out with just a few threads left for a tail! (She seems to suck his/her tail, don't know why when his/her ears are so much softer?) and so Dog no 3 arrived at the scene, brand new! She hasn't wanted to sleep with Dog no 2 again! Earlier this year we bought her another dog as a present but this time it is a smaller version of her beloved dog hence Dog no 3 is "mama Doggie" and the small Dog is "baby Doggie"! (there is also a jumbo 'doggie' available, might have to buy it for her birthday next year, just imagine her face!)
- soft toys in general in fact sometimes I wonder where Kate is in her bed as her soft toys have 'taken' over the bed! Roly from the toilet paper was a huge hit! (thanks to OMA for buying more toilet paper than she knew what to do with in order to get us another Roly!)
- her favourite colour is ..... you guessed it RED. She even asked for her new profile at Kindy House to be red! The teacher said that she was the first one to ask for a specific colour.
- She doesn't like wearing pants or 'old/kindy' clothes for that matter. I make her wear pants when she is biking and "old" clothes for Kindy. As soon as she gets home from Kindy, on go her skirt or dress! (with matching socks, red ofcourse!)
- Puzzles - she is very good and patient at doing puzzles something which the other girls have done but not shown the same enthusiasm

The Beach Part 5 - After....

and here they are WET! ok I did let them get wet and experience the waves, you can't go to the beach and not get wet can you? Thankfully being the good mother I am I had bought spare towels (although not enough for everyone, ok maybe I'm not such a good mother after all!) and some spare clothes for the younger two girls!

A very proud Gracie, completely wet. Just for the record, I didn't take off my jersey all day!

Oh, here is Kate wet. I'm a bad mother now as Kate fell in the water as the waves went back out to sea, it scared her (I WAS watching don't worry) but before I calmed her down I told her to stand still so that I could take a photo from her completely wet. Grace had deliberately got wet, being this wet was not what Kate had in mind! I suppose having some healthy respect for the sea is not a bad thing at all!

Sisters having water fun!

This ended our day at the beach. It didn't end my day however it only just started! I de-sanded and dried the girls as much as possible and put them in the car. I fed them an icecream from McDonalds (aren't they the ultimate cheap treat?) I figured a bit of icecream mixed with sand will come out in the wash! When we got home, the girls showed, I de-sanded the clothes and washed! After the girls and me were clean again I very nicely texted Albert that it was his turn to cook. Being the very nice Wife I am I e-mailed him some dinner suggestions. (thanks D.ominos!). He obliged (thanks heaps!) and so all in all, a very nice day out!

It's the simple things in life that count isn't it?

The Beach Part 4 - Before......

And then there is the sea....

After the girls had enough on the playground (or maybe it was me?) it was time to return to the sand once again and this time with spade in hand! Michaela (thanks) carried all the buckets, spades etc to the beach and once there they started digging.

Kate doing some digging as well.

Zara ofcourse had to help as well. Grace digging.

Grace again, I love that picture.

Ah, there is hope at last in my training of the girls to become ladies! See 'ladies in training' lift up their skirts so that it doesn't get wet!

Ok, all does not end here, You will have to wait until tomorrow for installment number 5, I'm sure you can imagine what happened.........

The Beach Part 3 - Playground

Ofcourse a visit to the beach wouldn't be the same if we didn't visit the playground as well!

Michaela on the balancing beam!

Grace on the balancing beam!

Zara and her concrete boat!

Kate and Zara in a 'fire engine'!

The Beach Part 2 - Can you spot the odd one out?

What's an outing without some food? Not an outing at all I say :). The girls were all eager to get back to the car after their sand dune adventure to eat and drink to refuel before the next adventure started!

As soon as we sat down on our seat, a visitor arrived. The dog promptly sat in front of us without sniffing us and trying not to look at us but all the while obviously hoping that something might come his way! I did in form of an applecore but 'dog' had a look and decided that an applecore was beneath him/her.

Isn't this a cool picture? Spot the 'visitor'!

Look to the top far left of the photo and guess what, that's the dog owner's van. As soon as we had packed up our lunch the dog went back to where he/she came from, the van!

The Beach Part 1 - Sand Dunes

Each school holidays I sit down with the girls at the beginning of the week and I ask the girls to write a list of things that they would like to do in the holidays. These school holidays the request was for a visit to the beach, not just any beach no C.astle C.liff beach! "You know Mama the one with the playground!" So being a good mother that I am (who does NOT like the sand or beach!) I took them out to the beach on a very nice warm day. The older girls in particular Michaela know exactly what she would like to do. First we had to play in the sand dunes, then have some morning tea, play on the playground a bit and then build sand castles! The girls had helped me to get everything ready that day including spades, buckets and ofcourse morning tea/lunch! I asked for the girls reaction after we had been to the sand dunes, what did you think? Michaela replied that she was disappointed as you couldn't slide down easily down the sand dunes. Mental note: take plastic rubbish bags next time!

Grace and Zara scaling a sand dune

Making a slide....

Be rest assured that Mum was sitting on top of the sand dunes supervision the girls! Sorry to disappoint you but no I didn't join in!

Watch out for Part 2 tomorrow.....

Four Sisters!

Here is a picture of the girls together yesterday at the beach! Aren't they beautiful?

Zara's "preaching"

Here are some pictures of Zara reading the bible to her toy dog. She told the dog to sit still and listen! I wonder where she gets that from ;)

Who needs toys?

I bought some big boxes back with me when I went grocery shopping! What a treat, in fact the older girls were upset that I didn't bring them back a box each. Surprisingly the boxes lasted quite a while and underwent a lot of transformations, from houses for pony's, dolly's and fav soft toys to vehicles and then lastly being cut up for various objects! All for free, what more could you ask for?

Kate, pony and her box

Zara, pony and her box

Two sisters with their ponies and boxes.

Mama's big helper!

Zara's helping me wash dishes! What a big helper, she 'washed' the dishes, herself, the sink, floor, clothes etc!

Notice the washing of clothing! Good thing, I've got spare clothes for Zara!

A big 'I'm getting my way' smile!

My Encouraging Audience!

Here is a selection of Kate's Animals. Before Kate left for Kindy that day, she told me that her 'animals' were going to watch Mama work today! So from left to right here are Kate's Animals: mummy Doggie, Tiger, Cocoa (Roly from the toilet paper), Lumpy (who's real owner is Zara who has rejected her and so now is living on a semi-permanent status with Kate) and baby doggie (a little version of mummy doggie). Am I not blessed to have such a special audience to watch me do my housework? (oh and for the record, I did 'feed' them playdough for morning tea which they didn't touch, I wonder why? don't they like my cooking?)

Mainly Music Father's Day

Kate, Zara and I go to an awesome mainly music. They organise a Father's day fish and chip night every year but we haven't been able to make it for various reasons in the past and so this year we were able to make it! What a fun night we had. Albert had the opportunity to participate in the music session. It was so much fun seeing the dads participate, good on you! Kate and Zara enjoyed them selves as well. We finished the night with fish and chips and dessert for the adults which was very yummy as always! In fact Albert reckons that the only reason I go to mm is because of the excellent baking! Who can blame me?

Pesto!

Here are some pictures of my dog! (Notice it is my dog, not Alberts, he owns the cat or to be political correct, the cat owns him!)

Isn't she pretty? Well I'm pretty biased.

Guess Who?

Can you guess which girl is which? One clue, only three photo's and four girls!

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Ok, here are the answers! 1 - Kate, 2-Zara, 3-Grace