seems like so long ago

but it's only been 2 weeks since we got back. i think it's the weather change that makes it seem so drastic. i look at the clothes we are wearing in the pictures and it just seems like forever ago since we wore winter clothes! a few glimpses that caught my eye the other day while browsing thru our enormous file of pictures. i l o v e this one. the kids at a maze with chris, in the rain. you can see the raindrops in the picture!
also love these so much.
one at merrick's- with our auntie jo who took very good care of our massive crew. she fed us yummy dinners and our first kangaroo. she also took a family photo of us right after but for some reason it got lost along the way. im so sad! 😦one of her tasty meals 🙂
we fell in love with fitzroy and came back to do one of our family shoots there. you can see that one on the jac blog, click here.

kira said it was the best hot chocolate ever:
we thought the flat whites were especially delish.
sorta family pic, without moi.
luna park:

chris' dad who graciously had us over for many night and days, trekking our big family to his beautiful home in the mountains as well.

at the cabin, chris and caleb went on a fun gnome hunt in the village:

these guys geared up to go skiing/snowboarding as i stayed back with the little two.

a night of scrabble. NO KIDDING. caleb drew all of these letters. seriously!!!!! driving back to the city, through areas where the fires had passed.

st kilda, this shot is wrong with the water being crooked. but who cares. look at els' little hand gripping chris' jacket and caleb's little face watching in horror or amazement 🙂

sea glass in aus…that i later found in my bag once we got back to the US

maling road. love this area. chris' mom grew up around the corner. favorite little spot. found dr pepper there for 3.75 a can. i missed it but just couldn't stomach that price! we didn't get to see any koalas in the wild this time, we sure looked but didn't find any. the kids one request was to see some. 🙂 these are at healsville sanctuary. special treat, a bunch of active koalas and a little baby on it's mothers back. sweetest thing! and up close with a kangaroo…. they even got to pet it.

time with cousins.
we think their icy poles are better than our otter pops!

we were fortunate to have some really beautiful days of weather while there, kira was saying she wished she packed her flipflops and cam wished he packed shorts! but it was still chilly for me!

long chats with donna and snuggles with baby max.she housed us as well… both families together = 12. such good times. we are so grateful and will always remember it. thank goodness for ichat 🙂
and one more. though it's blurry, such a good memory. girls performing for us. learning a routine and practicing till it's time to perform. (i used to do this with my cousins, so i love seeing kira do it as well) 🙂

chris will have some of his film shots posted at the jacshoot blog sometime today.

as my air condition is blaring beside me, i think of our family so far away snuggled in their winter coats….missing them lots and wishing they weren't so far.

August 7, 2009 7

stop

every now and then she needs to remind me to stop. this day as i was working on the computer, she asked me to take some pictures of her with her friends. how could i resist? i dropped everything for some pics and cuddles!

i like to think that i'm pretty good with my time management. i feel pretty good when i cross off a few things off my lists. and i completely don't mind stopping what i'm doing to climb in bed for some snuggles. 🙂

have a great weekend!

July 31, 2009 16

back at it

seems like forever ago already when we would wake up and not have a thing to do! (elsie and her cousin in australia above) we'd roll out of bed whenever we wanted and enjoy morning coffee and cereal, yogurt, toast. mmmm. we'd say those lovely words any vacationer loves to say, what should we do today? meaning we are not needed anywhere, the day is ours to waste away should we want to…. 🙂 i really love that. 🙂

ah.
now the kids are running around the house finding things to do. i hear countless times from cam, no elsie, I will not play princess with you! 🙂 as i tackle my to do list on the computer, i'm also running around throwing laundry in, washing a sink full of dishes, and trying to squeeze in a cuddle. this morning i told the kids that they have about a month left of vacation. how is that possible? summer's almost over?! we've got 4 weddings in the next month… ooooh, i think i'll plan a mini vacation after that last wedding and before school starts. a little diversion that doesn't include housework, yay.

🙂

July 28, 2009 6

home

(pics from grad day)

and we are so jetlagged!!! the kids were up till 4 am last night, chris and i fell asleep a little bit before them). they woke up at noon, chris and i woke up at 930 to get some stuff done. it's been 6 hours and i am dragging! if caleb didn't have a little friend over i would definitely sneak in some cuddle nap time with elsie 🙂 elsie seems to still have whatever little cold bug she had before we left australia. everyone was so happy to be home. we've skyped with our australia family already and are missing them so much! i've noticed i'm washing my dishes with super water efficiency ways, ala drought in australia. i am drying my clothes in the dryer though 🙂 we came home to 85 degree heat, which was nice for about 2 hours. now im back to being over the heat outside, yet am freezing inside with the AC on! ah, i am just so high maintenance right now. missing our 4 cups of lattes a day, with lovely milk. i surprisingly haven't been to starbucks yet but am about to call chris and tell him to get me one. as i can't go outside because it's too hot :)

whine whine whine.

i officially have one more day off till our wedding weekend extravaganzas start on saturday! 🙂

July 23, 2009 7

missing scrapbooking

before i left for australia i scrapped my heart out to get my assignments done while i was gone. i almost packed myself a little kit to be able to scrap whenever i got the urge, but the thought of bringing my cutter with me made me decide not to. it's been 3 weeks and i miss my hobby so. i haven't had a ton of computer time so i feel like i've missed out on so much of the daily doses of scrapbooking i normally get. here's a bunch of somewhat recent layouts.

all layouts for twopeasinabucket.com

so i know there's lots of new things coming out, such a fun time of year for scrapbooking! excited to see this from KI! what else? link me up to something that you love! i feel so out of it. 😦 i've missed scrapping as much as i've missed dr. pepper :)

we'll be home soon and will be posting more aussie pics once i am back on my own computer. 🙂 elsie has caught a tiny bug, prayers for a speedy recovery so that she can fly home in peace will be much appreciated! we have had such a wonderful visit here with family, we will be so sad to say goodbye, yet we are ready for a little warmer weather. 🙂 hopefully not too hot though. 🙂

July 18, 2009 15

so far…

our first fourth of july in the snow!
we missed the fireworks that we normally watch, but kira had a great time snowboarding and cam went skiing for the first time. the younger 2 and i snuck out for a few minutes to throw snowballs… then quickly returned to the warmth of the indoors!
then this past week, we stayed with chris' dear cousin Cameron and his amazig wife donna. Cam and Donna have four kids as well so they understand the unique madness that comes with a family of six! we were blessed with amazing weather and trips to the beach on the mornington peninsula! i especially liked these beach boxes!

it was so special to see all the friendships form between cousins who live miles away but meshed within minutes.
everyone got along so well, but it was these two pairs that especially clicked. just a few months apart.
and these 2 a few months apart.
it made me sad to think that perhaps the next time these guys see each other, it will be years from now 😦 hopefully with technology, they will be able to stay in touch! (we were looking for kangaroos here, more pics from that day here)
just a few more as i have hundreds of favorites already but am having a hard time sorting through them all. we have been welcomed with open arms here and are so touched at everyone's kindness. it has been such a special trip for us already, glad we have another week to enjoy it. tomorrow's footy for the boys and more play time for the little ones! (and moms!)

July 10, 2009 16

we made it

to australia! we've had 2 chilly days here but are enjoying the company of family and the beauty of the land 🙂 we're off to the snowy mountains tomorrow! crazy to think that our summer has turned into winter!

July 2, 2009 13

2 graduations

in one day is sure to put parents in emotional overload.
last time driving to school for him- until college 🙂 the rest will be walking distance.
last walk from car to school together until high school. 😦 (that's what sappy moms do, document in the littlest ways) 🙂
i wish i knew what was going through his mind right here! he's a year younger than the rest of his class and at the time, and even now.. we think it was the right thing to do to put him in early… but now we can't help but look at it as, one less year with him at home. 😦 i'm such a sap!!! seeing him in that tie just gets me!
the ceremony began with the somewhere over the rainbow version that used to make me think of the ER episode where dr. greene passes away. now i will have my little guy's sweet face cemented in my heart when i hear that song. chris, my mom and i were pretty much big cry babies at that part 🙂
my baby! i love him so much and cannot believe what a big guy he's getting to be.

goodbye big brother, see you in high school 😦
i know this is down below but i am so glad chris got all these pics, as i get all shaky and emotional and can't compose a picture worth beans. i love my matchy men! 🙂
and then a few hours later, we went to kira's middle school graduation. it's a lot more formal at that grade so we managed to keep ourselves together 🙂 but we are super proud of her and are shocked that she will be entering high school in september. she has lots of sports to keep her busy this summer, including training for cross country. here's our lovely girl!
looove this picture of her 🙂 lei for our lei 🙂candy lei! me and my girl

he is so wonderful with kira. i don't know what i'd do without him. my mom and my 2 girls. and this one cracks me up so much. elsie's little face and my mom looking at her. i love it!
amazing! a picture of all 4 together!!! one of these two that melts me!! there's all kinds of crazy light/shadows going on here but dang they look cute 🙂
and our little buddy… who is dragged around wherever we go.. without a complaint. we adore her! 🙂

these sets of ages, where all my kids are now… i wish i could freeze it. kira about to start high school, where i know our next 4 years will be a blur. cam about to start middle school, and the overprotective mom in me wants to protect him from any social anxiety that may come. caleb in elementary and who still plays in class and adores his teachers. and elsie. 3 and home with me. i can't imagine elsie 10 years from now, in kira's graduating shoes. kira will be over 20. scary. i never thought i'd have such a large family and now i can't imagine my life without them.

there's my sappy graduation post with a plethora of pictures. i will look through them again with the youtube video of somewhere over the rainbow and surely tears will fill my sappy eyes 🙂

June 23, 2009 18

dad

happy father's day to our daddy!

i love that the kids tell him that he speaks with such wisdom when he breaks out the parables or quotes while talking to them. i love that he has taught them not to quit. i love that he shows them what hard work is. i love that he is my partner is teaching them what really matters. i love that he has brought out competitiveness in them and made them all sports fans.. even when he's not home, the boys will watch espn. he is faithful and loving. he's already planning the girl's weddings. he cries at their graduations. he knows that an afternoon at the baseball field, watching his boy play…with the rest of us on the stands cheering, is heaven. we love him!

June 21, 2009 7

celebrating friends

the other day i got together with my friend brooke as we do every week. we usually just let the girls play while we scrap. but this time, we had another visitor, kelly, with us.. so we decided to head outside. so glad we did! i love these pics of the girls! they play so well together– elsie's first real friend 🙂 besides her siblings 🙂

i'm so happy to have a scrap friend nearby, one with a daughter who my daughter loves is a total bonus 🙂 one that shares the same obsession with me, is happy to have our girls wreak havoc while we make pages and one that enjoys treats as much as i do! 🙂 so thankfuL!
happy wednesday! two more days of school left. today we woke up ten minutes before the kids had to be at school. 🙂 it's already summer in our heads… hello sleeping in, we've missed you 🙂 yay!

June 17, 2009 19