29 December - Fairies Wear Boots

Grace was a true fashion icon today. After catching up on any missed sleep for the week with a huge nap, we went for a walk around her Nan and Pops property this afternoon where she loved stomping her boot print into the sand on the hill.

28 December - Zoo Doo

Big day today. We went to Zoo Doo, which is the closest thing to an actual zoo in Hobart.

I had been warned for a long time about the "bus ride" and how you get harassed and attacked by various animals.

But nothing prepared me for the Emu attack, the crazy driver,  nor the Camels.
Leah had done it before, but I'm not sure she was quite ready for the Camel attack either.

Grace had a great day though, playing with her cousins, especially poor Abby who she was attached to nearly all day.

27 December - Shiploads

A quick trip this afternoon to Shiploads. It's possibly the only thing that Tasmania has and Canberra doesn't. Well, at least, the only thing that might be worth having.

Grace was pretty keen to have me try out this pair of glasses and wear them through the shop.

26 December - Hobart

Back in Hobart for a week, and of course all Grace wanted was to play with Abby and Matthew.

And once they arrived, no-one else got a look in. Even when she was eating fresh fruit, Abby had to feed Grace. And to change her nappy, we had to have a nappy change race with Matthew.

I think we may need to buy an Abby of our own, since Grace happily does so much with her.

25 December - Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!!
After all the shopping, lights, reindeer talk and Santa talk, we finally made it.....Christmas Day.

Grace loved all her presents, and it took nearly 3 hours to open them, as she insisted on playing with every toy before she would open another.

But we have done pretty well, there didn't seem to be any presents disregarded, so she must have approved.

The rest of the day was spent quietly, getting ready for our flight back to Hobart tonight, which is where I write this from.

With no day sleep, at 10:00pm an exhausted Grace has finally gone to bed.

And it's over for another year.

24 December - Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve this year means preparing for our trip to Hobart tomorrow night.

First thing was to drop the dogs off to their home for the week.

This time, they arent going to boarding, but are staying in a private house, with a while bunch of other dogs that are also staying.

It will be interesting to see how they go with so many 'friends' to play with for the week.

But after a quick look through the gate at me leaving they ran happily back to play in the yard.

23 December - Big Fish

A quick visit to the zoo today to pick up a gift, saw us with the inevitable trip to see the fish and turtles at the aquarium.

It's all Grace ever wants to see. She seriously couldn't care less about the animals there.

Today she was very impressed with the new huge fish, and followed him around the tank for some time.

And when I say huge fish, I mean huge....for an aquarium tank at least.

22 December - Dinosaur

Quick trip to Bunnings this morning and Grace found this Dinosaur craft kit.

So while I was slaving away for the Merrys, Leah and Grace painted the wood, and then this afternoon, Grace and I assembled it.

Pretty cool.

21 December - The Pursuit of Happiness

In the never ending quest to find Grace Turtle items I spent a while at thr Australian Geographic store this morning.

Things must be getting bad, as this Turtle Slap Bracelet was the best I could manage.

Still, Grace will like it. Its a turtle after all....

20 December - So Grown Up

I admit, I stole this photo from Leah but I was there at the time, so technically, if I had of taken a photo, it would have been the same.... :-)

I just couldn't believe how grown up Grace looked when I saw it. Amazing to think this is her third Christmas already.

This year she is really embracing Christmas. Especially the Reindeer.

19 December - New lights

They are installing new lights at the rugby oval at Manuka, and at first glance I couldn't believe how much of a lean it was on.

After taking the photo, and driving further down the road,I realised they were supposed to be leaning in, but I still think it looks pretty dodgy.

18 December - Penguins....

We ordered a magnetic fly screen to go over the cattery door recently, and it arrived today.

I was skeptical about how well it would work and whether the magnets would really click shut easily.

I have to say, it seems to work pretty well.

But by far the most impressive thing is the fact the magnets are shaped like Penguins.

So of course they hold well, everybody knows Penguins are strong little buggers.

17 December - That Time of Year Again

Yep. It's that time of year again.
Time to go out at night, look at how much time and money some people waste, and think about how glad you are that you aren't one of them!

Though I must admit, Grace and Maddie did enjoy the lights this year, especially the house where the foolish time/money wasters gave them balloons and lollipops.

It was obvious these people loved wasting their money. They were drinking red wine after all.

PS - We also had dinner at the Mawson club, where I was quite impressed with Grace and Maddies tower building expertise.

16 December - 6th Anniversary

Today was our 6th Anniversary, and the theme is candy and iron.

Leah gave me these awesome milk bottles filled with various lollies, complete with genuine old style paper striped straws.

I also got a stool for the Piano, which covers the iron part of the gift, which is awesome. Saves me kneeling on the floor to play! :-)

Very impressed, candy and iron is definitely not an easy gift theme!

15 December - My Magic Turtle

In the never ending quest for cool things, we decided Grace would like a turtle shirt (plus it was an idea for a Xmas gift for someone else too).

So after a bit of research, I discovered you could use a regular plastic freezer bag, a piece of white paper, and a little bit of magic to make an iron on stencil.

To test if it actually worked, I drew and cut out a turtle shape, and ironed it on to some test fabric.

A quick splat of fabric paint and I'm happy to say, the magic stencil worked perfectly and Grace approved of my design.

Quite the crafty little critter aren't I?

14 December - Pushing Trees

Another trip to the Doctor for Grace today, though thankfully she is getting better.

Certainly better enough that she couldn't possibly walk like a normal person down the pathway.

She had to dance while singing "I like to move it, move it", and as usual, try to push over all the trees!

Not sure why, but she really has something against trees.

13 December - Master Photographer

This morning while I was outside with Grace, 6 army helicopters flew over in formation.

If there is one thing I love about living in Canberra, it's the cool stuff like that.

Not so cool, is my photo of them flying over.

I swear, if you zoom a LOT, they are there.

PS - yes the sky really was that blue today.

12 December - Boring

Such a boring day at work today.
3 hours of discussion about a paper I am writing the cost benefits of a tuna electronic Catch Documentation Scheme...

Ho Hum...and yes, this seriously is the ONLY photo I took today.

11 December - Coloring is a Serious Business

Another advent calendar magnet tonight, and I couldn't help but be amused by how seriously Grace takes her coloring in these days.

Serious faces every time, and if she hands over a Texta, she will demand exactly what needs to be drawn. Usually, she wants a picture of herself sneezing, coughing or drinking her juice. Odd.

10 December - Starting Young

Every time Grace gets into my car lately, she insists that she will drive us and I should sit in her car seat.

She literally sits up, turns the wheel, presses buttons,  tries to move the shifter, and says "drive, drive, drive, drive, drive".

I really think she thinks she is driving.

9 December - Chalk

After poor Grace was sick last night, we had a quiet day at home, and finished some Christmas stuff.

In the afternoon Grace was a little happier, so she opened some new chalks to do some drawing on the concrete.

8 December - A Whole Piano

Amazingly, Costco actually did ring me to let me know the second box for my digital piano (see the blog from the 6th) had arrived and was ready for collection.

So this afternoon Nathan and I made a trip there, to buy some supplies for a bbq tonight, and to get my box.

I have to admit, now it's up, I'm really impressed with it. I've always wanted a piano, and this one is awesome.

No stupid glitzy keyboard sounds, just a full size 88-key grand piano or electric piano and that's it.

But I can add reverb, pitch shift, chorus, and even connect it to a computer or iPad to record.

Now I just need to teach myself how to play.

7 December - Christmas Tree Lights

It was the lighting of the Christmas tree in the civic centre of Canberra tonight.

Peter Combe entertained with lots of shocking songs as expected from him, and then at 9pm, the tree lights happened.

The tree was ok, but the Santas and reindeer lights that they project onto the surrounding buildings impressed me for the second year in a row.

6 December - Half a Piano

We bought my Christmas present tonight...

After phone calls every day to check that it's finally in stock, it actually arrived.

But, when we got there to pick it up, they politely informed me that only one of the two boxes was there...grrrrr

So here is a photo of the half a piano we did get...

5 December - It's a Wiggly Fun time

Huge day today. It was Wiggles day in Canberra, so we were out early, in the 40 minute traffic queue to get to the arena, followed by the 20 minute queue to get in to our seats.

I can't believe how many people were there.

It was one of the last ever shows with the "real" Wiggles, before the three new imposters start next year.

All I was interested in were the funny faces that Murray pulls, as always. Without a doubt, the best Wiggle. The new red Wiggle just looks like a total tool. It really won't be the same.

4 December - Christmas Calendar

Since its December, it's Advent Calendar time for Grace.

This year, Leah made her one with magnets that Grace can color in, and Grace Loves it.

3 December - What Fly?

Tonight after work, Grace and I had a play at a park, where it turned out, Grace was far more interested in chasing ducks around the oval.

But she was very very impressed when a fly landed on her face, and even more so when she thought it was going to go up her nose!

She even agreed to smile for the camera so I could get a photo.

2 December - A new Man

Well, almost a new man, after a couple of weeks of no shaving, and at least 5 weeks of no hair cut (and yes, the irony of barely having hair isn't lost on me).

But as Joan Rivers says, when a middle aged man complains he has no hair left, he should start looking in his nose and ears. That's starting to become true as well....

Anyway, hopefully it's obvious which is before and which is after in my photo.

1 December - It all begins

First day of December means the first day of summer, and the first 'day' of Christmas.

Two things I could live without.

But for the summer part, we setup a new little pool and slide for Grace which she loved.

And for the Christmas part, we set up our Christmas Tree.

Both turned out pretty well I think.

30 November - Angelic?

Though I missed a lot of it today, as I was at work, it was clear that Grace was having a bad day, and poor Leah had suffered it ALL day.

On the upside though, Leah did get some nice photos of Grace in her pretty dress, holding some battery operated Christmas lights.

This one I took with my phone in semi darkness. She might look like an angel, but i can assure you, today she wasn't.

29 November - Ice Fun

Tonight we had dinner at Hungry Jack's with Cass, Nathan and Maddie, where the girls had a huge play after we ate.

The play area at HJ's is brilliant, and the girls played really well together.

Especially when they started throwing ice down the slide at Cass (in between eating the ice) with fits of giggles the whole time.

28 November - Emoji

So a couple of Apple Fanbois I know keep at me about how useless, stupid or behind the times my android phone is since it doesn't support Emoji emoticons like the iPhone.

I think it's because Emoji is the only thing on the iPhone they can come up with that my awesome Android phone didn't do.

And I say didn't, since today I updated my sms app, and added an emoji plug in.

So now iPhone fanbois, I can read your stupid little smilies, and reply with them too.

On top of all the other awesomeness of Android, I think that means I WIN.

27 November - Puppy perhaps?

I've said it before, and I'll gladly say it again. I am NOT an artist.

This is my shocking attempt at puppy dog face paint today.

And once again, while I think Grace liked that her face was painted with 'something', she didn't seem convinced that it looked like the puppy she had asked for...

26 November - Grace's Seat

Tonight while I was folding the washing, Grace decided she must get in the washing bin, and have a lay down while it was sitting on our bed.

Didn't look comfortable, but she assured me it was "so soft".

Then when Leah got home, she asked me to throw a towel over her, so she could hide. Funny child.

25 November - Bikes and Trikes

We had the idea that it was about time we bought Grace a balance bike, and what better time than Xmas?

So after an unsuccessful shop with Leah last week where Grace refused all bikes, I decided that it was my turn to give it a go.

I had slightly more success, in that I did manage to get her to sit on a balance bike, but not without a lot of coaxing, and only after she had tried out the police trike (that she isn't getting), the scooter (that she loved) and numerous other inappropriate things.

I think, no bike for Xmas after all.

24 November - Fun at the Park

This afternoon we headed out in the heat to Queanbeyan Park, as the Queanbeyan Gift running carnival was on, with plenty of activities.

Thankfully, for such a hot day, it was really nice in the shade off the trees around the oval.

And surprisingly, there really was a LOT to do, including a crazy jumping castle (that Grace insisted on getting in much to our concern), a mechanical bull ride (that Grace really wanted a ride on), Human Foosball (looked interesting), a kids farmyard (that Grace loves), Baked Potatoes (which for Tasmanians who miss Praties Taties, is very exciting) and a whole lot more.

And Grace ate a whole bag of pink fairy floss, where she had to keep showing us how it turned to red jelly in her mouth!

23 November - Feeding the Baby

Grace loves noodles. And beetroot, she looooves beetroot.

And tonight while eating her tea, she decided I needed to feed her noodles like a baby bird.....

At least she ate them all.

22 November - Happy Santa Pics

Yesterday we thought we would attempt a Santa photo with Grace.

Memories of last year's tears were fresh, but Grace was excited about it all the night before, on the drive there, and right up until she saw Santa, at which point her whole body tensed up, and she clung to me saying no no no.

With a little coaxing we managed a photo, and I suspect this will be the best we will get too.

Oh well, maybe next year.

21 November - Barnardos Bad Budgeting

Today I took a photo of this lovely personalised (with my name) gift set that I received in the mail yesterday from Barnardos. It was accompanied by a letter,  kindly requesting me to donate a minimum of $15 to help them with their work with children in need.

While I certainly admire the work they do, and I know there are a lot of kids out there that require and deserve the help they get, I really couldn't help thinking that if they spent less money on making personalised gift sets for people that never asked for them, then they wouldn't need to raise so much money for the kids in the first place...

20 November - Found them...

On a quick trip to McDonald's tonight I forgot to put any shoes on to drive down there, and of course drive thru was packed. But without shoes, I was stuck waiting.

And then to make things worse, just as I finally made it to the window I noticed my sandals on the floor of my car!

Sheesh. Truly a first world problem. I bet 'My friend Dorian' never had to worry about things like this growing up in Ethiopia.

19 November - keyboards

As a real indication of how exciting my days at work can be sometimes, this is the only photo I took all day today, as an example of the macro photos my phone takes.

And no, my phone didn't mess with the colors, but I had to do something to try and make the photo slightly more interesting for my blog!

18 November - Like a Tiger

Another day,  Another animal.

Thankfully, I think Grace has realised that I am not the artist in this family, and asked Leah to paint her a tiger face today.

She was so happy, she even gave me a snarl for the photo.

17 November - Christmas Barn

Today, after some months of harassing us,we finally went to the Bredbo Christmas Barn with Cass and Maddie.

It was a LOT bigger than I expected, but pretty much as cluttered and glittery as I suspected. We did manage to buy some bells, and Grace seemed to enjoy it, aside from the talking reindeer.

And after a play at the park nearby, we even got to say hello to a real Reindeer, which Grace was definitely impressed with.

And finally, freebies from Hungry Jacks to top of the day.

16 November - Butterfly Girl

Today Leah painted Graces face with the new Face paints that she bought this week.

They certainly worked better than the pens we had been using, though the orange didn't exactly 'wash off in water'.

I just hope Grace doesn't want me to paint her face or she will be sorely disappointed.

I may be very talented at so many things, but an artist I am not.

15 November - Not the way to end a day

I had every intention of blogging about my new Samsung Galaxy S3 today.

But instead,after a crazy coughing fit that brought on an asthma attack that ventolin didn't help (apart from giving me heart palpitations), I ended up taking photos from my bed in the emergency dept of Queanbeyan hospital instead.

In and out in two hours is pretty awesome service I think!!!

And all fixed.

14 November - Riding a Reindeer

Grace is starting to really get Christmas fever, and we still have quite a way to go!

She is talking constantly about reindeer and Santa and Christmas trees and lights and decorations and tinsel and....the list goes on.

At the moment she has taken to a solid tinsel reindeer that we have had for a few years.

He has to go to her bedroom and sit on a bedside table to 'watch her sleep', and tends to get carried around the house everywhere at the moment.

This morning she decided he looked pretty good for a ride when she realised he looked a lite bit like a horse.

Its going to be a looooong month I think.

13 November - The Eyes have it

I took this photo today while Grace was eating her tea.

Nothing too exciting I admit, but i do love her big blue eyes and the way they shine in some photos!

12 November - He's got legs

Today Leah was making jokes about the legs on a young tradesman in a photo.

So I had to remind her of what awesomeness she has right at home!

11 November - Queanbeyan Show

Today was show day in Queanbeyan and for the first time in 4 years, we went.

Grace just wanted to see animals and we did well to arrive early when there was nobody else there. So the guy running the farm nursery said Grace could get it in the pen with the ducks, bantams and baby pigs. Grace loved it of course, pretty much like a pig in....hmm, i wont even finish the bad pun!

We then met the Merrys for the rest of the day there, where Grace and Maddie played in a jumping castle, rode on a train and met Elmo!

And then back to the animals where the girls got to nurse some rabbits, ducklings and chickens.

All up an excellent day out, though we are all suffering from the dreaded red skin syndrome (apart from Grace as we kept her well covered and suncreened).

10 November - Animals On Her

Today seemed to be a day of animals on Grace.

This morning she balanced some of her bugs on her arm, and she truly was pretty happy with herself.

Then this afternoon on the bath she managed to get her little froggy attached to her forehead by suction. Which she was DEFINITELY happy with.