New and Old Friends

Recently Lily befriended our old cat, Sophie. She carried her over her shoulder and cooed softly to her about them being best friends. Sophie doesn’t get as much attention as she likes so anything will do for her, even this:
Beside the pavers on the side of our house are newly dug trenches. Lily walked over to it holding Sophie over her shoulder, and she dumped the poor animal into it.
Mum called out “Lily do not throw the cat into the hole!”
The reply: “But she’s my best friend!” I do not think she has learnt yet that you aren’t actually meant to throw your best friends into ditches.
Sophie spotted the chance to escape while Lily picked up a clump of dirt and broke it in half saying, “Then Jesus broke the bread!”
And since that incident yesterday, Lily’s new best friend is Lambert. Yes, he does jab her in the back with his long horns and she does run screaming when he walks towards her, but he is still her best friend :).



Her old friend: Sophie.


Her new friend: the greedy sheep, Lambert.





"Cherish friendship in your breast-
New is good, but old is best;
Make new friends, but keep the old;
Those are silver, these are gold."

The cats are coming back...

Josie, our two year old cat, is expecting her second litter of kittens any day now.

We think she is going to have more than four this time because she is so much bigger! I don't think I have ever seen a cat as petite she is with so big a stomach. She has slowed down a bit but despite her big stomach she still jumps onto high brick walls and annoys her fellow cats by chasing them around the farm, or as far as she can run.

I will do a post on the babies once they're born.

Flashback Friday

Disneyland 1999

Rachael, and Mum in the teacup behind.

Rachael and Rebekah

Matt, Karli, Jess, Bek, Rach and Jamie with Tarzan.

Donald Duck, Rach, Bek, Jamie.

"I Love Lucy" with Matt, Karli, Jess, Rach and Jamie at Universal Studios.

Le Jeune Artiste

Rebekah was, and still is, the artist...




...but Robert has suddenly sprung up! He spends hours drawing people, places, weapons, nature and anything else he can think of. He looks at a picture in a book, closes it and just draws, and the resemblance is very close! He has an eye for detail. Not long ago he drew these three; the face he copied onto paper while looking at the original picture, but the other two were cleverly drawn out of his head. He told Mum that he would be an artist when he grew up! I don't doubt it.



He wrote his name at the top to say
that he drew it. And, by the way, this
is a lady (rather an ugly lady).




Teddy, from the book Rikki Tikki Tavi .




D.I.Y cupboard illustrations. He has never even seen a real elevation plan, he just knew how to do it. See how all the parts aren't actually attached? The arrows point to the way the nails have to be hit into the wood and the hinges (up-close) look realistic. The carpenter in our family was most impressed.

Blossoms

My favourite part of spring is when the blossoms come out. These ones are the prettiest...

Tea for one!

The other day, Lily had a tea party just for one.


The phrase that came with this was:
"Oh! My favourite biscuit party!"



Pouring the tea...



...and drinking it!


She loves her tea parties!

Spring is in the air...

Spring has certainly come! It is warm, the grass has been freshly mown, the flowers are coming out and Lily has to wear a hat at all times. We are able to let the fire go out and have the doors stand open to let in the cool breeze. It is lovely :).

I had to tie it up with ribbon to keep it from 'falling' off.

Spring is wonderful!

Daniel's Sentence

Rebekah has been a good FIAR teacher to Daniel and Robert. They have been learning a lot and enjoy all the fun activities. Robert seems to concentrate more on his art, which he is very good at, but Daniel likes writing short sentences. He has a “book” that he has written all by himself about random things. This sentence was his latest...

Translation: 'Who was in the pantry eating ham?'

Lily Pilly

Here are a few of the many photos that have been taken of Lily. She is so photogenic and is the only willing victim for my photography practice. She poses as soon as she sees the camera and used to smile as if she was in pain. It was cute but luckily she has cured herself of it! She is also very witty, which can sometimes get her into trouble. Tonight Jamie went into her room to kiss her goodnight after she had been put into bed and he walked up to her and said, "Can I kiss you Lily?"
She replied, "You can only if you put the cot side down..." Which would mean escaping, if she was quick enough!

Professor Lily. She stuck her chin out to

keep the glasses on.

Decked out for shopping.

She was trying to copy Rob's sun painting

but I am afraid she failed.

She always has cuddles before bed, without fail!

Riding backwards.

Michael Baby

Here are some sweet photos of Michael Baby, as Lily calls him. He is a great deal more alert now than his earlier days and when the camera flashes (which it does, quite frequently) his eyes get even wider than they are already.

That's my Baby!

Kisses.

Looking up to an admirer.

Petite Mademoiselle

Mum is a Gymboree shopper, and recently she purchased a gorgeous French dress with a matching jumper for Lily. The dress is purple and has the Eiffel Tower, small shops, and other such patterns on it, the jumper has the same pictures embroidered on the bottom. She wore it to church for the first time today and looked so cute :)







Angelic.

Braces-free!

Two days ago, Karli had her braces taken off! She has had them on for two years or thereabouts and is relieved to finally be free of them although she has to wear retainers, which she is alright about. Here are some photos before, during and after.

Before.

During.

After.

Congratulations Karli!!

Mum's Birthday

On the 10th of September, it was Mum's birthday. We celebrated by getting up at 6:00 am and having a special breakfast of Cranberry muffins and tea. The presents were then opened at as fast a pace as presents can be done, because Dad needed to head off to work. All you need to do is spend the whole day shopping at Federation Square and then Mum has as many presents as she could ever wish for. We had a beautiful Chinese dinner: Chicken and Almonds with fried rice! And the dessert consisted of chocolate patty cakes with Betty Crocker icing and Jessica’s cute, artistic designs.
All in all, I think she enjoyed her day!



The table.

Mum's miniature tea set on her cake stand.

Dessert.

Attempting to drink tea out of a tea spoon...

... yet every time she looked, there

was the same amount.

Enjoying Michael's smiles.