Weekend Work

Sunday was another all day painting session at the house. With all the furniture out of the house, we set up the girls in Ella's room with the outdoor chair and heater. They had bought a variety of stuff in order to entertain themselves. Once their enthusiasm ran out (an hour or so later) for whatever they were doing, I pulled out a craft kit for decorating stepping stones which I'd picked up at Bunnings. We mixed together the cement and poured it into the moulds. The girls job was to decorate these with the stones provided. Hoping this would buy us another decent chunk of time I was disappointed to hear Ella exclaiming she had finished what seemed like 5 minutes later.

Andy and I managed to finish the primer coat except of the hard to get places (inside both girls wardrobes and the storeroom) We had visits from several friends whom we showed through the transformation of our home.

No Paint Saturday

Saturday was too busy to fit in any painting.

Firstly soccer took up the morning. Overnight rain left the fields fairly soggy and muddy. Ella's game was quite hilarious with the girls reaction to the muddy conditions. At one point the ball stopped dead in the middle of a muddy patch. The girls from both teams halted on the edge of the mud contemplating what to do. Eventually someone plucked up the courage to gingerly kick the ball out!! Ella managed to stay fairly clean although at one point she fell over hands outstretched into some mud. She quickly stood up, then completely forgetting about the game she took her time to inspect the mud that was now on her thermal and hands!! It was a great even match this week with some wonderful plays and teamwork from the Blossoms.

Meanwhile at Peewees, the numbers seems to be dwindling especially with the girls. This provides an increased anxiety for Katy (and whoever is with her) in finding a team. Most of the time she ends up in tears but recovers enough to join in and by the end is really happy!

The afternoon saw Andy, Nana and Ella head off to the AFL match at Manuka. They survived the cold conditions and even had fun watching Geelong (Nana's team) walk over GWS.

While they were at the footy, Katy and I attended Sofia's (our next door neighbour) birthday party which was held at the local indoor swimming centre. Katy enjoyed the water slide and splashing around with the gang of 6 year olds!

We finished our busy day at Cathy's house having dinner cooked for us!

More Celebrations

A few more celebration have recently occurred in our household.

Grandpa turned another year wiser and enjoyed a birthday dinner and cake.

Katy and all the kindy kids celebrated their 100th day of big school. The corridor was decorated accordingly and they spent this special day doing loads of fun things - games, activities, craft and food!

Renos - To do list

The initial timeline for the renos was 4 months with a month out of the house. The project is looking to be completed well within this time frame, but we are coming up to the 8th week of living away from home and although it's been going really well with the Grandies, we are itching to get into our new place!

The to-do list is getting smaller! Jobs to tick off in order for us to move back -

1. plumber - install toilets, vanity, tapware
2. electrician - install lights so power can be turned back on
3. builder - timber floor, architraves,
4. joiner - kitchen bench tops, drawers, laundry shelves
5. builder - install wood stove
6. floor man - sand and seal timber floor.

Things that need to be done but could be finished while we are living in the house -
1. builder - doors hung and handles on, skirting, shelving in hall cupboard, various timber shelving, gate, downpipes
2. joiner - WIR shelving
3. electrician - hang pendant lights, external lights and sensors
4. plumber - external tap
5. shower screen man - shower screens
6. us - painting, painting, painting both internal and external

Fingers crossed things go smoothly and we'll be in by early August.

Rneos - Day 64

Electrician installed most of the lights and switches but will return once again to do finishing touches once the building work is done.

Renos - Day 63

 Plasterers finished off all the cornices (laundry, kitchen/living area, girls rooms) so their job is completed!

We've taken advantage of the completed store room. It just needs a couple of doors.

Timber flooring continues to creep through the house - down the hallway...

down the corridor toward the lounge room...

into the lounge room...

School holiday skiing

Winter school holidays are generally pretty boring, so it was nice to see the snow come tumbling down half-way through the holidays. To celebrate, I decided we should test out our new skis. First, we tried them on in the loungeroom ...

... but that didn't really satisfy any of us. So, we got up early on a Thursday morning and headed to Selwyn for the day, while Nat was stuck at work. It turned out that, if you can make it to Selwyn before 9am on a Thursday you get a pass for just $20. We met Al, Max and Mira there, and headed onto the slopes. It took Ella one run, and Katy a few runs, before we rediscovered our skiing form. But soon, Ella and Mira were cruising down the slopes way ahead of us.

It turned out that the kids all express their personality in their skiing. Ella and Mira are risk-takers, who head downhill the fastest, hardest and shortest way. Max likes to ride the lifts with Al and skis his own pace, while Katy is happy skiing her own pace, and won't try something until she knows it can be done. These differing styles meant that most of the day, Ella skied & caught lifts with Mira, while Max and Al followed them. Katy spent her day with me, and we met up with the gang when we could.

A great, but tiring, day out, and makes me look forward to a full week at Guthega later in August.