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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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...
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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).
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.
Tonight Grace decided she needed to fill her watering can with all her little plastic bugs.
Then she then tried to tip them out of the can to 'water' me.
And got a little upset when they didn't pour!
This afternoon while in the bathroom after Grace had her bath, Nala decided she would be very friendly and eventually lay down in the sink.
Which meant Grace had to sit up there with her and show Nala her new robotic fish.
Nala wasn't too fussed but I thought it looked pretty cute.
Tonight when we went to the supermarket we found a Christmas fairy that lit up. Which of course meant Grace wanted it.
When I asked what her name was Grace proudly told me it was 'Ballerina'.
She was pretty impressed that 'Ballerina' changed colors once she lit up too.
I figure at least by thinking she is a ballerina, its a positive compared to thinking she is in any way related to Christmas!
This afternoon Grace decided that her Dinosaurs might all like to hang from the Basketball net. With each one added she would pose and say "Ta-Da" like she was really clever.
I guess its dinosaur art.
So after yesterdays failed attempt at face painting ladybugs for Grace, I was grateful that she had the confidence to let me have another shot at it today.
Thankfully, Grace asked for a Butterfly today which I already knew how to draw, so at least today's does resemble the actual animal, and not some exotic nasty disease!!
I was pretty proud of my efforts!
Yesterday Leah used the face paint crayons we have and did an awesome job of painting a butterfly on Grace. Which Grace was so happy with she wanted to skype me and show me and then got Leah to take a photo to send me!
Today it was my turn as Grace asked me to draw her a ladybug. Suffice to say it didn't turn out quite like I had hoped and when I showed Grace the photo she looked a little sad and baffled until I asked if it looked like a ladybug and she said 'No'!
I admit it was pretty crap and looked more like I had drawn Grace with a severe case of 'Slap Cheek syndrome'. Oops.
Attempt two on the other cheek was slightly better, but only as I tried a basic stick drawing!
An artist I am not.
An evening dash to the supermarket tonight, turned out being an epic trip since couldn't find anything I wanted.
I did find some pretty delicious looking ice cream options though!
Today after reading from Telstra that the firmware update for my phone had been delayed AGAIN, I decided it was time to bite the bullet and try a custom 'non official' firmware.
Which of course meant the latest and greatest version of Android 'JellyBean'.
And yep, I'm loving it so far. So many great features its transformed my phone completely.
Hopefully it will also help the battery life a bit too, because its brilliant in every other way!
I love how it can now track my data usage per application and separate WiFi from mobile data too.
Grace has recently taken a liking to pretending that her things are having parties or are falling over and in need of rescue.
Tonight in he bath it was her toothbrush having a party until it got so wild dancing it fell over and needed Mr Turtle to rescue it!
