Now for the photos

The Smith Crew and the Caitens Clan @ the Sunshine Coast unit the Caitens were staying in.

We all went and played putt putt together. It was slightly crazy, but enjoyed by most!

The two little men particularly enjoyed the helicopter inside…

and the motorbikes!

Miss Grumpy-pants with her leg in a cast (she wasn’t actually grumpy, she just didn’t particularly want her photo taken)

On a ride at the redcliffe festival of sails

Enjoying sno-cones

With the Caitens and McClures @ Rocks Riverside

The first hockey game!

Uncle Adrian and Mr Malachi in his suit (it’s serious business!)

Ezra pulling faces earlier in the month… he’ll be 5 months old on Thursday… time has disappeared!!

Brianna has started going to art classes on Monday afternoons. We all went the first few weeks but it got a bit crazy. A friend offered to keep taking just Brianna – so for the last three or so weeks she has been going along on her own and just loving it (particularly the part where she gets to play with all her “friends”!)

We had a tea party with the McClures, Mrs John and Heidi for Bella’s birthday. She picked out all the balloons/plates/etc (any suprise that they’re all purple??!!) and thoroughly enjoyed the whole event. She spent most of the weekend of her birthday telling everyone that she was “three now” and that she’d had her birthday – she still has moments of realising that yes, she’s still three, and just how exciting that is even now a few weeks on

Malachi got in on the building action when Daddy converted an old double bed to a low futon for the girls room:

I have a new sling for the baby

And Bella asked if she could have one to match

We’ve also finally added some pets to our family! Last week we bought a fish tank and two gold fish. We plan to add some more fish, but were told to do it slowly so that they have time to adjust. Apparently their names are Libby (Brianna’s fish) and Sabby (Bella’s fish) … but that has a tendency to change depending on what time of day you ask them

So now that October is over, it’s time for baby to arrive! I was hoping that maybe he/she would make his/her appearance during October to add to the already long October list, but it would seem that he/she is more keen on November – perhaps even sharing a birthday with Grandma Joan?? I’ve been really enjoying my midwife visits, collecting all the bits and pieces we need for the birth, talking to the children about the new baby … not enjoying the heat quite so much, and still working on patiently waiting for bub to arrive (some days are easier than others!!) but all in all we’re all doing well, enjoying putting some energy into redecorating the house now that we have a 12 month lease signed (will put some photos up sometime soon), and enjoying our family and the ministry opportunities the Lord has given us!

On monday we took a “holiday at home” day. We went to the breathing space cafe at indooroopilly for breakfast then caught a train into south bank where we visited the science centre. From there, we had lunch at southbank and went for a play on the park before catching the train home again.

Enjoying the train ride

Malachi @ the science centre

Binna and Mummy @ the science centre

Malachi playing @ southbank

On tuesday morning we packed all our gear and decided to head up the cost (it was sunny then )

Trying on the new swimming gear from daddy.

First stop: underwater world!

Next stop: the shearwater resort @ kings beach…. only by now it’s raining!! (these photos were taken from our balcony early wednesday morning)

but all was not lost – the kids enjoyed watching playschool

and we went on a bit of a shopping spree!…

…which resulted mainly in lots of great bargains (new clothes) for daddy – but some super cute nighties and socks for the girls too (amongst other things)

lots of fun!

we’re back home now and slowly getting ready for the weekend! Jer and I are heading away for our church couples retreat overnight tomorrow night. My dad will be having the kids for a little bit in the evening, then Adrian will be looking after the girls here and Julia is taking the brave step of looking after malachi for the night

I’ve cut a purple one out for Bella too (can’t leave her without a new dress if Binna’s getting one )  – will finish it later today I hope! Still no new sewing machine, or contact from the seller i’m hoping this isn’t my first bad ebay experience

I picked up some sensational buys at scaafs last week (remnants were 50% off already reduced prices). I got 1×1.35M of funky denim for $6.25 and made a skirt for me, a skirt for binna and a reversible bag for me! (pics below)

I finally got around to doing a reconstruction on a denim skirt I picked up from an op shop ages ago in a “fill a bag for $10″ bundle. It made a super cute skirt for ellia and the inside of the bag.

I also got a remnant that was 2.5m x 1.35m of a very cool stripey cord fabric and made a skirt for heidi (no photos, forgot to take one before she left!), a matching bag for her and one for her husband too (he was having bag jealousy so I made him a “man-bag” to match hers – don’t know if he’ll actually ever use it tho! )

The Denim Skirt (before)

Ellia’s Skirt

… in action (she wouldn’t let me take a nice photo)

Brianna’s Skirt

My bag

Heidi & Justin’s Bags

The children are all growing quickly – Malachi is such a little man now. Brianna is being challenging but is enjoying learning to read and some early numeracy skills. Ellia is … well, Ellia – she’s unique and wonderful, hyperactive and incredibly affectionate!

Now for some photos… My camera has been out of action since earlier this year due to me losing the battery for it (and no I have no idea how I actually managed to do that). However, last month I got a new phone and it actually takes pretty decent photos – not as good as Jer’s new phone… but that’s not the point!

This key rack was made for Mr and Mrs John after Mrs John mentioned they needed to get a new one as the old one was getting a bit tired in it’s old age. We were hoping to have it done for her birthday but it ended up being about a week later! From L-R the handprints are Bella’s, Binna’s and Malachi’s. I did a practice run of Malachi’s on a piece of paper which worked wonderfully only then he didn’t want to do it again on the “real thing”!

This pelican lives outside Mr and Mrs John’s front door – the girls think it is designed for riding on, so of course Malachi has copied them. He got off before I got the photo tho! So cute!!!!!

This photo was taken mid July while we were at the airport waiting to pick daddy up from his trip to the US.