Yes, yes! I have been super vigilant about updating my blog - as you can tell by my latest entry just the other week month ..ok..almost a YEAR ago! 

With my return comes awesome news! We are off to Sweden/Finland for two and a bit weeks over August.

We will be attending a very special wedding and have jammed as much as we can into the entirety of the trip that remains! 

Which is where my ever neglected blog comes into play!

Tim's brother Derek and his fiance Sus!

The Bride and Groom :)

My three angelic, perfectly well behaved, gorgeous mannered, never tantruming, all night sleeping children will be staying at home with Grandma and Pa (*snickers* suckers!! *ahem*) so I thought I best document our travels so they can see what a blast  how much Mummy and Daddy are missing them and all the wonderful things we see along our way! 

It kinda sounds cruel actually. However unintentional it is! What evil parents we are. 

Galavanting off to Europe then posting all our wonderful pictures on a blog just to rub it in some more! 

*Weeeeeee Mummy and Daddy are off on holidays...WITHOUT YOU! 

Here's some wonderful photos, just to make you more sad you aren't with us?!*

I'm sure all the goodies we buy out of guilt along the way will more than make up for it once we return, that and the fact they will have an absolute ball with Pa and G-Unit!

They are quite excited in reality. 

Tobi about Pa walking him to school in the morning 

while (in his words) "Grandma COOKS ME DINNER" 

*makes mental note to take extra suitcase for Grandma's goodies 

that we also will need to buy out of guilt*

Taylah about being able to do absolutely everything she's not normally allowed to do, 

but Mummy's in a different country and time zone so what can be done about it until it's too late stuff! 

And Owen, well I'm sure he'll be excited that someone new 

is getting up to him when he wakes multiple times a night 

(oh crap! I said they slept through didn't I? *shhh*)

Then there's the rest of you nosey beggars ;)

Whom I can't bring back guilt gifts for (as insanely jealous as you are)

that will have to suffice with the gift of photography and rambles by yours truly!

To kick off the photos (and envy) here is a photo of Korstäppans Manor where we will be staying overnight after the wedding!! 

I am Maru - The stunt cat (the melophonic remix)

Cute Babies and Alien lifeforms!

Tobi's love for his one and only, ever-so-cute cousin seems to be waning.

He used to LOVE "The bebby". As soon as Aunty Bess walked in the door he would proclaim very loudly "My bebby?" and clamber up onto the couch and assume the baby smothering holding postition.

I was a bit wary at first. My boy is very rough and tumble! I invisioned "Bebby" being tossed aside like a ragdoll after the Tobester lost interest (I was giving it all of two seconds) but Beth assured me it would be fine, so onto Tobes lap he was plonked (gently of course).

I think Mathew must have been around 3 weeks old. We were at Granny's. I waited with baited breath for Tobes to start gouging his eyes out, pull his hair or pinch his soft little face. Instead...he tenderly stroke his hair, kissed his forehead and just sat looking at him for near on twenty minutes!

We infact had to pry him from his arms.

This also happened on the next few occasions we spent time with Aunty Bess and Bebby.
Everyone commented on how much he loved him. How cute it was.

Slowly that has been changing. I've noticed the more I hold the Bebby, the more Tobi is clawing at my legs and begging to be cuddled.

If Pa plays games with the Bebby, Tobi jumps infront of them and tries to take over or he chatters and performs silly tricks in the corner (while laughing out loud to make sure Pa knows he is having a dandy time) until he has his Pa's undivided attention once more.

He steals the Bebby's toys. He does not let the Bebby play with his toys. Mathew had his Woody doll today and you would have thought it was Tobes most prized possession (he never plays with it) the way he ripped it off him, complete with death stare.

His head rubs are getting slightly more violent. Soon the eye gouging will come, I'm sure.

I think he thinks the Bebby is an evil species invading our planet and stealing his love, one human at a time.

So today, after about a dozen hissyfits, we managed to get one nice photo of them together, before Tobi tossed him aside and said "ALL DONE!" (Beth caught him don't worry!)

I'm not sure there will be many more cuddles (I'm sure there will be bruises, scrapes and fights over footies) so I had to share this photo before Tobes tries to ship him back off to his home planet in an Australia Post prepaid satchel marked "Return to Sender".

It's off to school we go..

Taylah started back at school this morning! She was itching to go back! I on the other hand was enjoying the late morning starts, not having to walk to school twice a day, being able to go out and not be back by 3pm! Spending time with the both of them *sigh*

I won't miss the fighting though!

She's in Year 3 this year and is in a class with a fresh new bunch! She was having a few problems with some catty girls last year, the whole.."You're not my friend anymore" crap! I can't remember girls getting bitchy til much further on in primary school! So hopefully the new kids in her class are exactly what she needs!

~My Family~

Here are some pics I took of our lil family! Minus me of course!

Tobi is so hard to get to cooperate! He hates having his photo taken and hates being told what to do! So these are the best I could do!

He looks like he'd rather be anywhere else in the world! Like if he just gives us one cheesey grin maybe we will rack off and leave him be!

Lily white with a shade of brown!

When Tobi was born the first thing I noticed was his beautiful milky white skin. I thought it was his Finnish/Irish blood from Tim's side.

I took these photos of him this morning and had to laugh at his tan line and the contrast between his milky whiteness and his tanned lil arms! Beth calls it his tshirt tan! So here's the pic before I converted it to B&W.

1800 JUMP JUMP

I always thought it would be my girl child that would have the phone permanently attatched to her ear as she got older.

School friends calling…gossiping. Eventually the inevitable “boy talk”. Me battling to get her to hang up every night.

Well…I was wrong! At least for now!

It seems our telephone is an extension of my young lads arm! He has to call Grandad and Gigi at least once (sometimes half a dozen) times a day!

Tim must’ve been worried about our phone bill because he’s even started dialing a wrong number just so Tobi can talk to the lady who ever so politely tells him to “Please check the number and try again, you have not been charged for this call!”.
Tobi knows that lady quite well, I’m sure they are on a first name basis by now!

Grandad and Gigi even call him when they are just around the corner in the car when coming to visit! They beep the horn and watch as he races to the door! Listening to his excited squeal, best of both worlds you see! They get to hear and see his reaction to their impending visit!

Poor Tobes is quite perplexed by the whole “beeping” situation though. He hears a car beeping during the day, races off to grab the phone, brings it to me and says “Beeps, Gandad!!”
He assumes he can just pick up the phone after hearing a beep and that Gandad and Gigi will magically appear! Everyone thinks this is hilarious... poor boy.

He’ll talk to anyone really. We quite often have him running around the house gibbergabbering to somebody on the other line. Sometimes we even forget he’s on there and half an hour later the person is ever so kindly trying to tell him to give the phone to Mummy and Daddy or hang up! There’s only so much Russian "Tobi babble" one can take in a single sitting!!

He loves ringing Daddy at work! I’ve trained him well! He calls Daddy and says “Miss Ooo Daddy!” and Tim’s favourite just before the end of the call “Lub Ooo Daddy”.

He tells anyone who will listen all about his tchucks and cars. Oooh but his favourite topic is “the jump”.

“The jump” is the best present Santa has ever given! The trampoline provides hours of entertainment, although I must admit it’s not such a godsend at 7am when my eyes are ever so heavy and all I want to do is crawl back into bed but the boy is chipper and shouting “JUMP, MUMMY JUMPS!!!” as he bangs at the backdoor.

He’s a smart boy though, has some great multi-tasking talent! He has learnt to combine his two favourite things! Jumping on the trampoline and talking on the phone!

I guess I shall let him make the most of it, in three or four years he won’t even get a look-in where the phone is concerned (when the boy talk comes-a-knocking). Maybe I should start saving for the surgery to have them separated now!

OOoooh and I just had an excellent idea for those annoying telemarketers that we can never understand and who don't take no for an answer! I can just pop Tobi on the phone and he can talk to them for hours! Best thing..it doesn't cost us a thing and they just won't be able to get rid of him!! Genius!

Starring in Cat's Culinary Corner tonight is...

Tim and Tay Tay's dessert tonight, *Ala Mango and Strawberry Smoothie!*
I'm dieting so I just drooled all over myself and poked my eyes out with a blunt stick. *sigh*

Ingredients..

Half a punnet of fresh strawberries

1 fresh juicy mango

4 scoops of vanilla icecream

Milk

Mango sauce

And fresh strawberries and mango for decoration :)

Return of the Slumber Bunny!

I think we've had an intruder in our house. Must've come in late last week. While we were sleeping.

Only one thing was taken and they were kind enough to leave something in return.

I was thinking about posting a sign around the neighbourhood asking if anybody had seen it, maybe offering a reward. But I kinda like what they left in it's place more!!! Shhhh!!!

Must've been gypsys or fairies, whatever it was, it did it quietly!

What was it that they took??!

MY SON!

Why don't I want him back??? BECAUSE THEY LEFT ONE THAT SLEEPS! Alllllllllllllllllll the way through the night. Oh how nice the sweet sound of silence is all night long.

Those who know Tobi know that he's never been a good sleeper! He has had a night here or there where we thought he was becoming a reformed man but alas it wasn't to be! When he was born the doctor couldn't believe the scream on him. Nor could the rest of the hospital!! I think his exact words were "He's going to like being heard".
And he does! At 1am, 3am, 5am, 5:30am.
Ok, maybe not quite that bad, but there has been many a night at 2am where nothing but Ellen Degeneres or taking him outside to look at the stars has been able to calm him down.

Maybe it was the return of "beaaaaaaar" that did it.
Beaaaaaaaaaar is Tobi's longlost rabbit that we never even noticed was missing. Taylah found a rabbit at Gigi and Gandad's house and claimed it was Tobi's most favourite teddy EVER and that she must return it at once! Gigi even offered for it to stay at her house but Taylah was quite adamant that she must not return home without him!
I can't even remember the rabbit. Tim couldn't remember the rabbit! Noone remembered the rabbit. Surely he couldn't have been TOO attached to it, right?!

Well the rabbit came home and it was like Tobi had been reunited with his long lost best friend!! He hasn't put it down all week! It's been on the trampoline, to the shop (where Tobi taught him the finer art of flirting with checkout chicks! Hrmm I wonder where Tobi learnt that from?!), he's been for drives in Daddy's Car and he's even had a swing! So it seems Taylah was right! And we are horrible parents who didn't even know our son was missing his most dearest friend! LOL Start calling DOCS people!

Maybe he has just "grown out of it". Took him long enough!!

So you think we would be all refreshed and revitalised. No. The bags under the eyes have remained. We keep staying up til 2am blogging, photo editing, game playing and watching TV! But that's gotta stop!

So here's to more sleep and just a note to those fairies who took my other son..

If you return him I will pull off your wings, tickle your toes til you're physically ill and as an added bonus I will superglue matchsticks from your upper to lower eyelids, forcing you to keep your eyes open for all of eternity. Sounds nice, eh? So does more sleep :)

Oh and Timmi, thankyou for doing more than your share of the resettles! I'd be a basketcase without you! Love you xox :)

Still alive and pinchin'

Just to let you know that I haven't flaked out on blogdom!


My computer was getting a much needed vaycay with Gandad (Yes I'm aware that I'm missing an "r") Hiski who has cured him (only a male would cause me so much grief) of all his ailments!!
Thankyou Hiski :) I owe you and Gigi "Tobi Time" as a form of payment!


I had a little vaycay myself. From cyberspace! My house has never been so clean *gasp*

And just because I need a photo to accompany this entry and I tried to take a photo of my clean floors but the gleam was just too much for my camera to handle ;) ..here is an extra yummy, totally gorgeous..scrumdiddiddlyumptious baby that I could just about eat...

(Not really)


(Well, almost)


(But I wouldn't)


(I'd just squeeze his cheeks really hard)


(Hrmm maybe that's why he doesn't like me, but that's a whole nother post)


Isn't my nephew divine?




I'll be back very soon with more than cute babies! Or maybe just cute babies and more...

Tortured Starfish and the Chamber of Fish...

(I apologise now for photo blog overload)

Today was the kind of day that life is all about. Going out as a family, having fun and enjoying ourselves. Of course everyone has their limits, and today was well balanced between having fun and seeing interesting things, and not going overboard and doing too much. That can be dangerous where Tobi is concerned! We probably pushed out limits as far as we could without Tobi snapping. Of course he had the occasional squeal (THE squeal, how I hate thee!) in frustration at not being able to run off and jump in the ‘bath’ with all the fish, stingrays, turtles and sharks, but that was for his own good.

Yes, we went to AQWA or by its older and more sensical name, Underwater World. There we were able to see (and damage) all sorts of marine life. The first couple of tanks resulted in only a slight nod of interest from Tobes, they were nothing compared to Pa’s fish. But then we got to the turtle. He stood at the nice ground level pool, and tried to feed the turtle with his fingers before stooping down to look through the window at him. He loved that turtle!

Through the danger zone, full of dangerous, but stationary animals we came to the place where Tobi could do some real damage… the petting pool (or as I would call it, the circle of torture). Here children gather and are allowed to reach into the water, there is nothing in the pool that can hurt them. But no one thought about those poor starfish, stingrays and fish in there! First Tobi was content with just splashing the water onto anyone who came nearby, but then he found the joys of thumping starfish. He was quickly whisked away, much to his distress, fortunately Tay Tay is far more gentle, but it was difficult to find a place in amongst the throng of children, and even when she did it was hard to find a starfish that wasn’t already being tortured.

Luckily Tobi’s screams of protest did not last too long as there was a great distraction nearby, the seal enclosure!! At first it appears as a pool, and the seal would occasionally surface to breathe. Tobi was slightly interested, but the seal would only be visible for moments at a time. But as you followed the path down and around you came to a level below the decking where you could see underwater into the enclosure. This really perked Tobi up, especially as the seal was playing. He would glide across the window, smiling and winking at the spectators, before gliding lazily off around the back of the island and out of view.

"Here ‘e comes!" Tobi would yell, more out of wanting the seal to come back, rather than because he actually saw the seal coming. But sure enough the seal would come back, doing barrel rolls, surfacing for breath and coming back down to dance in front of the people. Tobi was entertained for a solid 15 minutes. But the trump card was yet to come.

Today he learnt a new word. He always liked fish, but today was something special. Tobi came face to face with a shark. I was curious to see how he would react. I imagined that he would be afraid, he has what seems to be a natural in built fear of scary animals, such as geese, and plastic crocodiles, so I assumed when he saw a big shark near the window he would be in awe, but also cowering in fear, such as at the Red Bull air race. It was not so, he was up, yelling "shark!" and banging on the glass while he stared into its eyes through the seemingly thin glass, with no concern at all. It sent chills down my spine, but he was eager for more.

After two shots on the underwater carousel we left and went and had some lunch in a café in Hilary’s then we went down and joined the locals (mostly elderly bootleather lying out to dry..Timmi was most tramatised!) for a dip in the ocean where Taylah befriended a little girl after two minutes (as she does) and the Tobester enjoyed himself splashing and eyeing off any small boy who owned a boat as if he wanted to club them, take the boat and make a run for it!

(Excuse the look on my face, I was trying to get Tobi to do his "cheesy grin")

So all in all a great day, I’m so not looking forward to Timmi going back to work on Monday, we are going to miss him so much :(

Love you Tim! Thanks for a wonderful 3 weeks :)

PS. I do love my girl child too! I promise! There aren't many photos of her because she was busy flitting around Underwaterworld with her new digi cam snapping away!

Foot in Mouth Disease. Cureable? I don't think so..

I took a Self Portrait today, I hate having my photo taken and I'm taking part in a "photo a day challenge" for 2009. I'd love to get more comfortable in my own skin and stop being so critical, so I thought I'd take a few self portraits here and there.

This is the one I took from today..(Oh Alyce I found your headband up near the pool so I borrowed it especially for this shoot! Hope you don't mind LOL)



Anyway, Timmi apparently loves it. But..he has a serious case of not thinking before he speaks LOL, or rather what he's saying doesn't come out just right.

So this was our convo as we were cleaning the table once Gigi and Gandad had left this evening..

Tim : "Babe you look like Mary Magdaline in that photo"

Me : *blank stare*

Both keep cleaning...

about 30 seconds later...

Tim : "She was a prostitute, you know?"

Me : *Throws teatowel at him*

Tim : *giggles insanely and mutters about it not meaning what it sounded like he was saying*



Men..*sigh*

This ain't Sesame Street...Big Bird is evil!

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I HATE birds. Little birds are fine. It’s the big ones that really freak me out.

It’s not an irrational fear either. There is a reason for it. A very good reason.

When I was young, my Uncle Barney (no his real name isn’t Barney! It’s Greg) and my Granny took me to feed some birds. Someone must have been equipped with a camera to document the occasion, cute little girl with pigtails feeding the big friendly giants (well giant to a three year old) because here it is….




How cute, right? WRONG. THAT..nasty number right there almost took off my arm. I was innocently holding out a piece of bread for the evil sucker to feed on and it swallowed my arm! It didn’t just take a little nibble. I can still recall feeling my hand at the back of his slimey throat. The blood curling screams…the blood (ok maybe I’m exaggerating now).

Pelican’s also eat ducks I’ll have you know!! Check out this video clip for PROOF!



So you can see why I’m now petrified of any bird bigger than a duck! I think they are all on some evil mission to frighten every small child in existence, which was proven when we took Tobi to Lake Monger yesterday! I needed some inspiration for my “photo a day” for 365 so what better than some pretty wildlife?! We had been out of the car all of five minutes when Tobi was railroaded by a big goose on a mission to get whatever I was carrying (my camera). He obviously thought it was bread. It WASN’T (Tim was carrying that bag lol). But yes he nearly knocked over the poor Tobesmeister on his way! So already we were off to a bad start..

To solidify my bigibirdophobia, as we were leaving a big swan walked up to him and just PECKED him. Right on the chest! Tobi didn’t flinch, he just looked at it like “Eh! What was that?” He is tough, but I rest my case. Birds…of the big variety are evil.

Blame it on Pa!

I will.

This post is all his fault.

I made my better half, Timmi a banana cake. I cut it up all pretty like, popped it on a plate..drizzled it with the bestest ever homemade Baileys sauce *Thanks Doobie* and then topped it with icecream, sprinkles and freshly cut up banana!

I may not be the perfect housewifey, far from it actually..just ask my mother who recently offered to iron Tim's workshirts!! Little did she realise I had about 70 shirts backed up that I so uneagerly *cough* threw gave to her as she was leaving my house! BUT..9/10 nights I will make my gorgeous, hard working TimTim a super-extra-scrumdidiliumptious dessert! Even down to the presentation! Squirts of cream, shavings of chocolate, heart shaped icecream biscuits..you name it, he's had it (well almost).

So tonights specialty was homemade banana cake fresh out of the oven, topped with icecream, banana, Doobie's extra awesome Baileys sauce and a few sprinkles thrown on for good measure.

I was just telling my lovely father about it on Skype. His reaction..."n" (nice) No, not even the four. whole. letters. Just the one "n". Uggh.

That is all. Hardly the jealous response I was looking for. As my brother wasn't around (who would have provided a much better ranking on the jealousy scale) and all my sister had to offer was "ewwwwwwwww bananas" *sigh* that means all you innocent banana loving people must suffer.

So yes blame the Pa. He deserves it! (Don't worry Dad, I still love you :))

Oh and this is Doobbie's Homemade Bailey's Sauce. Did I mention how utterly mouthwatering it is? The best present ever? Which is FAMOUS as of now! *wink wink*



Doobie can we have 10 more bottles? *batters eyelashes* ;)

For Uncle Dez and Aunt Suz!

Deeer Unkie Deedah und Auntee Suse,

I'z is missin you berry much while you'se gone. Buts I is also enjoying myself with your stuff.

Mum and Dadsie took sum pictchas of me enjoyin your stuff. I hope you like dem.

Wuv,

Tobi.

*slobbery kisses*

My Fairy Princess who wants to ride dirt bikes and kiss frogs..

I was never a girly girl as a kid. I’m still not overly girly now..although I’d like to be..I’m just not. Don’t get me wrong, I wear makeup and skirts. I brush my hair!! I don’t get around like a bogan in jeans and a flannel shirt (not that there's anything wrong with that!!), I’m just not the epitomy of girly.

My daughter must take after me *sigh*

How I would love to have a girly daughter! I have dreams of pink, pink and more pink! Ballet lessons, gorgeous dresses, ruffles, bows…

And while she will wear those things and most of the time she is dressed rather “girly” she is most happy in a pair of shorts and a singlet. She loves kicking a ball and getting dirty in the yard! Loves experiments and finding out how things work. Collecting bugs in tissue boxes for me to find weeks later curled up and dead “overloved” covered in leaves and sticks. I’m really surprised we haven’t had any inside infestations!

I shouldn’t complain though (and I don’t…I just keep stuffing her closet to the brim with the most gorgeous Pumpkin Patch dresses ever created! and buying her Barbies that she never, ever plays with) because also like her mother ;) she inherited my smarts (where else would she get it from? ;))
She’s soooo clever! And I know every parent says that about their child, but it’s true! It’s not suprising really, she talks and has done since she was 18 months, like it’s going out of fashion. She’s constantly asking questions! Some of them at really inappropriate times like at 20 months we were on the train and there was an African man opposite us and she pointed and said (loud enough for him to hear) “Mum why does that man look like Sooty?” *cringe* Or…the time we were in the park and there was a larger lady have lunch and as the woman walked past us to put her rubbish in the bin she piped up with “Mummy, why doesn’t that lady have ankles?” *sigh*

So yes it can get her (or me) into trouble and it does drive me a bit crazy but I really do love the fact that she is so inquisitive!

The reason for this post…

I dressed up my poor daughter into a fairy outfit on New Years Day, put a tiara on her head, flowers in her hair and sat her under a rose bush in my garden. She hated every moment of it and we even had to negotiate how many shots I had left at the end. I got what I wanted..a beautiful picture and also got punished in the form of a massive thorn stuck in my foot that Tim had to dig out (I’m sure they were all grinning about it later!)

The final result for your viewing pleasure…

Inside Daddy's Car

Ever since Tobi was a baby he has had what seems to be an inbuilt fascination with anything that goes "Brrrrrrrrrrooooooom".

It isn't limited. He loves cars, tchucks (trucks), bikes, bups (busses) and planes! Not a car trip goes by that we don't hear a little "Ooooooooooh" from the backseat. Followed by "Airplam" or "Tchucks Daddy, tchucks!"
He must have a super-ultra-dooper sense of sight (Tim claims he must be one of the Heroes *rollseyes*) because it only has to be a miniscule spot in the sky that sets him off! Quite often we are all hunting for a good two or three minutes before we can see it too.

It started with planes or Airplams as Tobes calls them. As a baby he would point to them in the sky and squeal in delight. Then when he started walking if Gigi & Gandad were visiting he only had to hear one (again he must have super-sonic hearing, because we don't hear them) and off he bolts, dragging Gandad by the hand out into the backyard to show him! He is quite fond of the odd toptar (helicopter) too!

We were out and about one weekend and the Red Bull air race training was on! The planes were doing loops, spins and we had a front row seat! Tobi would love it! Or so we assumed. We lay out a rug and sat to watch when the first plane LOUDLY whizzed past. He freaked right out! Screamed, jumped into my arms and buried his head in my chest where he firmly remained put the entire time. Eyes clamped shut. He shook like a leaf. No amount of coaxing would get him to look at those airplams! So we left..

And that has just about been the demise of the airplam obsession! Naughty Mummy and Daddy!

Then it was tchucks but now.. it's cars! But mostly "DADDY'S CAR!!!" Tim only has to say "Keys" and Tobi is blowing me kisses goodbye and shouting "Etttts Go!!!" He races outside and puts the key in the lock and waits eagerly for Daddy to put him in his seat. He LOVES being in the car. Every white car we see is "DADDY'S CAR!!" His white dinky cars are..you guessed it.."DADDY'S CAR"
Every afternoon that Tim pulls up he runs to the door squealing "Daaaaaaaadddddddddy!!!!" I'm not sure if it's Daddy he's glad to see.. or Daddy's car ;)

So there is the story behind our new blog’s title :) We hope to write in it often and share some photos of the family that I capture on my new baby (Canon 400D) that I scored for Christmas!

So here's to an uneventful (of the cursed kind - but more on that later) but super special 2009 :)

We hope you enjoy!

<3 Cat, Tim, Taylah and Tobes!
xox