Happy 9th Wedding Anniversary to Me!!!

...oh yeah and Nicko :P
9 years of wedded (oh come on anyone who says bliss is a pants on fire) times! Some great, some good, some really crappy to be honest, but here we are 9 years later with 2 beautiful kids, and exciting times ahead with the business/employment/new house to look forward to!
To love and to be loved is pretty special. Happy Anniversary Nicko, here's to many more great years ahead xxx

Easter at the Grape Escape!

We had a brilliant day yesterday at MotherJules and Ken's place, my brother and his family came too, the kids had a ball, the big kids gorged on delicious seafood and roast pork and duck washed down with some lovely champers and wine.
It was also a belated celebration for my gorgeous nephew Max who was one last week. He's walking now and just too too cute!
Here's a few thousand pictures from the day.
The setting, yep it's nice isn't it! At McLaren Vale

Mum's pride and joy (second only to myself and my brother of course :P) all of her grandchildren in the one spot!

Cake time with birthday boy Max!

Me, Ken and Dave

Isabelle and Charlotte - family resemblance anyone???

The spunky birthday boy

And Farmer Angus


Thanks Mum and Ken, we had a ball, and it was so nice to catch up with Dave and Kel and have the cousins all together as well xxxx

Deed Poll Name Changes Required - Suggestions?

Happy Easter!

Last night we went to my school buddy Mary's new beach house which is about 1 km from here (yeppers it's going to be dangerous!). We had a great time, the kids went upstairs and played and we hardly saw them all night so the big kids could drink their juice in peace and have a merry old time.

That was until the tattoo kit came out and it was lucky this little preppy conservative wood duck had had a few drinks................so the kids are now fully fledged tattoo wearing bogans, I may as well get their ears pierced while I'm at it - EVEN! - and from now on you may refer to my daughter as Charlene


Angus (not sure what to change his name to but am leaning towards Ky) LOVED it and requested a dragon. I think he's struggling to look tough but he gave it his best shot.


This night before Easter frivolity was all well and good until this morning, the kids came bolting into our room at 7:30am with the baskets we had left by their beds from the Easter Bunny, all ready to go on the egg hunt. Nick and I woke up in a screaming hurry, looked at each other and both said "have you done it?" then cracked up laughing, so I kept the kids in our room while Nick snuck out the back and chucked a few Easter Eggs around (literally, Charlotte commented that the Easter Bunny wasn't a very good hider!).

We had a fab day today at the Grape Escape with my family, will save that for the next post as I have a few thousand pictures to get through first.

Hope you all had a great Easter too, next year we really will get up before the kids, just remind me not to go to Mary's the night before :)
xxx

Charlotte's First Sleepover at a friend's house AKA do you think she's excited?

Ah lovely, just one kid at Goolwa tonight and he's asleep already. Charlotte has gone to her friend Bella's house for her first sleepover at a friend's house.
This photo goes back to Wednesday night when she decided to pack for Bella's - pink boots, a Barbie, socks, her toothbrush, Dora nightie and a My Little Pony phone.
So we packed all that Wednesday night while I made lots of mental notes to fill in the pieces of the missing overnight requisites (knickers perhaps Cha???), read her a story, left her backpack on the other bed and tucked her in.
I came back to check she was asleep a little later as she has this great habit of turning on her light again and looking at books, and this is what I found...actually this is an edited version of what I found once I pulled her nightie over her butt.
She will have an absolute ball, Bella has a pony and Soph has organised a pony ride for tomorrow morning, hope she takes some piccies!
Happy Good Friday everyone! I've had a rather lazy day relaxing and reflecting and remembering little princesses whom I wish were still with us - Ava, Grace, Belle and Hannah. Their mummies have had to farewell them in a physical sense and I truly wish they didn't have to.
Although I did do 2 loads of washing which in my book makes me rather godesslike domestically :P

Easter Craft for the Not So Crafty

Its a Porters Life is reporting in, reluctantly I might add as "Underbelly" should be on so I can learn some new sayings from Roberta Williams, but those pack of poofters (see, she has great sayings) at Channel 9 have put the lame Footy Show on instead so I'm here. And what a devastating blow as I was just feeling 'uman again too, I have had a nasty nasty bout of tonsillitis this week and am just perking up a bit today. On the bright side I think I've lost probably at least 10 kgs (give or take 9 kgs) because swallowing is just too bloody excruciatingly painful.

I'm about as creative as a dead fish but nonetheless offered to help out at Charlotte's easter craft session at school yesterday. And it was so much fun! Thankfully I didn't staple any little fingers, glue any children to a chair, and the headbands were a reasonable fit on most kid's heads with my not so precise measuring. The class went off to PE and we filled their little baskets with choccy bunnies while they were out, gullible little things truly believed the Easter Bunny had been while they were at PE :)







FINALLY this ridiculous heatwave has broken, 15 days in a row over 35 degrees. Madness. Porters are off to Goolwa tomorrow for the Easter break, can't wait!
Here's some piccies of Charlotte, who thankfully can be quite creative, must have got that from her dad.

Angus didn't miss out either, some super organised lovely mum had a face painter come in for a little boy's 4th birthday at childcare, Angus was a rainbow parrot! He looked great and refused to let me wash it off, so today he just looked green, like the Incredible Hulk. Interesting look. He got a few interesting looks at the shop today too.

The Porter Palace.........

is coming along quite nicely and I really feel sorry for the poor bugger tradesmen working in this ridiculous heat!!!

The plastering has started, most cornices are done, doors are delivered. Yay! Looking good for mid to end of May completion. I wonder if I will meet the foreman before it is finished?? They must love us, the least annoying owners they have ever had to work with!

Pop Found the Camera Cable = You all get to relive my birthday

..well it is MY blog......
Right so backtrack to 27/2, and as you can see in my rather sulky post that day commenced in rather unbirthday like fashion. I took Charlotte to school, took Angus to kindergym, no presents no nothing (rocccccccch) - at least Angus told our beloved kindergym teacher it was my birthday so they all sang Happy Birthday to me - oh along with some other kid who was turning 4 as well......yeah yeah Happy Birthday Sarah.....
One of the mums at kindergym asked me what I was doing for my birthday and my reply was "well so far it's a dud".
Luckily, it got better - MotherJules rang and we went out to lunch at Hahndorf with Angus, bearing lots and lots of lovely gifts, then I came home to a beautiful box of red roses from Dad, a bottle of Moet from Nick and a lovely surprise dinner from the in laws.
The kids were suitably attired, apparently my birthday was fancy dress.....


Lovely presents

Nana and Charlotte preparing my crumbed prawns and crayfish crepes

A rare Porter family photo

And last and most definitely least my birthday card from Nick - how totally inaccurate can you get! He knows I hate beer.

Feeling Hot Hot Hot!!!!!!!!!

It's crazy hot here at Goolwa, it's been hot all week (we're talking 37-40 degrees every day since last Tuesday) and it's supposed to go on for another week.
So, it's off to the beach we go, and go, and go again.....late this arvo we caught up with my best mate Sal, her hubby Spud and Sal's mum and dad Tim and Anita who I haven't seen for yonks, so it was great to catch up. Luckily it's a long weekend here so we can stay at Goolwa for another day woohoo! Sorry for all the piccies but I like all of them!
Angus, all wetsuited up and ready to go! He isn't in any of the beach photos because he was off chatting to everyone else on the beach and ended up building a sandcastle with 2 teenage girls who thought he was hilarious (shy little thing he isn't...)

Charlotte the Boogie Boarding Champ!

Bree (yes she is as cheeky as she looks!) and Charlotte

My god daughter Maggie

And Sal's eldest Sophie

I nearly have a great post....

But FIL's camera has gone flat and we can't find the charger or the cable to download photos from my birthday (which incidentally rocked in the end and thanks to all for the birfday wishes!)

I nearly have great shots of my niece's 5th birthday which was great complete with jumping castle, Mike the Magician, and me getting pretty pissed in the end (well if someone keeps filling my glass up with Jansz it's only reasonable to be compliant and drink up). But I left my camera there so until I pick it up - no cigars....

We nearly have a buyer for our business ("in principal", meetings next week to nut it all out, hoobloodyray)

And the icing on the cake today, Angus washed his own hair.......now if ever there was a Kodak moment that was it but no cameras are here doh! Hopefully we will get another hairwash in by 2009 he's not that big on that hairwash business.....

And that's not all, our house is officially at "Lock Up Stage" - although they're a bit dodgy because in my book placing a thumping big bit of gyprock over what should be a swanky double garage rolladoor barely passes my test, lucky I'm not fussy and at this stage we'll just chuck another progress payment at them and give them points for lockup ingenuity....in the hope they finish the freakin joint soon......

So stay tuned, when cameras are located I have some lovely photos!

Oh and I suppose I had better change my song.....so some Monty Python for you all! Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, cos whinging people who don't shit me no end......