And the Parties continue...

April is another busy birthday month in our household.

Firstly Pippa turned 11 - officially older than Grandad now (well in dog years). She still looks very much like a puppy but we can see old age creeping up on her.

The girls were invited to some fabulous birthday parties. Katy loved going to Phoebe's party where they each made a bear. Katy's is a cream bear named Rosy who barks! Meanwhile Ella joined her buddy Eleanor at the Kitchen Pantry making rocky road and giant freckles!

Then my birthday arrived. I was spoilt with impromptu dinner out the night before then two cakes during the day and then this nice surprise waiting out the front when I got home!! Finally reno plans have been given the tick of approval and commencement date set for 27th April! The rest of the evening was spent organising and packing for our mini break to the coast for school holidays. 

And at the end of the month Ella turned 8 but more on that later....

Nandies New Business

Andy and I have embarked on a new career in tree removal after successfully felling a ~10metre hakea tree in our back garden. I should point out here that we really liked the tree and didn't want to remove it. However it was another 'ready for reno' task.

A few months ago we had chopped off two of the smaller limbs which were overhanging the roof and had originally thought that the tree would be ok once this task was done. But no it wasn't going to work. You see the position of the tree was such that the extension would come well within the drip line and the digging would potentially damage the root system. Thus if left there would be a high chance it would die and then be impossible to take out. Plus we wouldn't be able to walk down that side of the house!

After careful consideration, we decided to start mid way up the tree cutting the heavy top branches before tackling the trunk. With the ladder fully extended we (Andy) was still not able to come close to these said branches. It would require climbing into the tree and I was champing at the bit to do so only to be reminded by Andy of the time I fell head first off the wheelie bin (while pregnant with Katy)

Anyway securely wedged high up in the tree, Andy began the job of cutting branches under my guidance and rope pulling skills to ensure the branches didn't fall into Karen and Nathan's garden and squash their water fountain. The whole job was really fun and took way less time than we anticipated which was a good thing seeing though we started at about 3pm on Sunday afternoon!

Finally the time came to fell the rather large trunk. As Andy sawed and I mannned the ropes, I began to think about the early settlers felling the huge eucalypts in the south west of WA. All was good for us with the trunk missing the house. However with darkness descending the cutting up of this rather large log would have to wait for another day (and possibly the neighbours chainsaw!) and so too was the even large stump left in the ground.

Ella loved learning how to use the saw too! Katy meanwhile was off next-door playing with Sofia.

Below is a snapshot taken in Sept 2009 of the hakea (the one behind the trampoline). 

The tree on the left is the regulated grevillea which added another 6 painful weeks to the approval process!

Farewell Isa and Diego

In 2011, Isa arrived at ANU to begin her PhD with Andy as her supervisor. And in early April, her journey was complete as Isa submitted her final paper. Over the 4 years, we were fortunate to form a special friendship with this bubbly crazy Italian chick including watching her marry the boy of her dreams Diego! 

However it was not only us and the girls who feel in love with this gorgeous couple. Isa and Diego moved into our place while we were galavanting around the UK in 2013 and Pippa became besotted with the pair. Actually I think the feeling was mutual!

So a few weekends ago, we readied ourselves to farewell Isa and Diego as they said goodbye to Canberra embarking on their new adventure travelling around Aussieland before beginning the next chapter of their life in San Diego.

First we prepared ourselves by having coffee at Little Oink;

 Next the girls made the wrapping paper for Isa's present;

Ok so they got a little distracted on the way....

 and yep that is a kookatiger! The perfect animal according to Ella!

 All under the careful supervision of Pippa!

Next was making some party food - sushi :)

Then it was off to the party for some fun!

A Non O Easter

There is something to be said about not travelling to the orienteering Easter carnival. I mean it is lovely catching up with O friends, having lots of kids running around having fun together, running on new areas and exploring new places but the rush and organisation of getting out of the door is mostly hectic and stressful!

So with orienteering in SA and Easter falling within the school term, we opted to have a quiet one at home and it was great! The weather was a little wet but over the course of the long weekend, we ventured to the arboretum to build a den, visited the local coffee shop (several times), had friends over for lunch and easter egg hunt as well as complete more 'ready for the reno' jobs.

We will be back at Easter in 2016 especially seeing though we won't have far to travel!!

The Important Things in Life

After watching her older sister lose many teeth and have the tooth fairy visit, it's no wonder that Katy is super excited when it comes to wobbly teeth! Her first (up the top) fell out in early February. Since then it seems that one on the bottom was to be next.

Last week Andy was on school pick up duties. He was greeted by a very happy Katy who showed off her newest gap - at the bottom. Mrs Kennedy, Katy's teacher, then informed Andy of the day's drama which involved Katy swallowing her tooth at lunch and then subsequently becoming extremely upset as the tooth fairy wouldn't come. Coincidently Mira, Katy's friend also swallowed her tooth at school on the same day.

Once home Katy wrote a letter to the tooth fairy (as suggested by Mrs Kennedy) and placed this in the jar next to her bed at bedtime. Thankfully the tooth fairy was very accommodating (and remembered) so Katy found the all importance $1 coin there in the morning!

** Translation Dear Tooth Fairy I am sorry that I swallowed my tooth. Can you please still visit me. Love Katy

Weddings, Parties, Anything

A few weekends ago attended a wedding held at Brindabella Hils Winery, a charming place 25km north west of Canberra. The winery is perched up on a ridge, overlooking the Murrumbidgee river with the beautiful Brindabella mountains in the distance to the west. A truly breathtaking spot.

The bride, Andy's bosses and our architects daughter walked through the vines up to the ceremony where her soon to be husband (Andy's cousin!) was waiting. Yes it was a typical Canberra six degrees of separation event!! The couple exchanged vows in a simple yet beautiful ceremony. We then enjoyed canapés, wine and were entertained with the speeches.

And we reminisced as our own wedding anniversary (#14) was only a few days away.

Meanwhile we had dropped the girls off earlier in the afternoon to Josh's paper plane birthday party which for them included a sleep over too!! Both girls loved the sleepover which didn't seem to have any dramas and included some sleep too.

The first half of the year is always jammed packed full of birthdays. The girls were lucky to be invited to their twin friends birthday where the themes were octonauts and fashionista. So we had Ella go as Professor Inkling and Katy was a fashion queen. Good fun!