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Yesterday we took the kids to a local water park and it was so much fun.  While Ava, Felix and I all stayed on the waters edge in the paddle pool, Piper and Ash headed out to more adventurous areas.

Piper has been wanting to go on a water slide for a quite some time now, but she has been too small for all the slides.  I then found a kids water park near us and thought it might be great.  It was, but Piper was still too small for all the slides that she really wanted to go on.  She tried the little kids slide (below), but I don't think it was much fun for her.

So Ash took her over to the jumping platform.  I thought she might be too small and they wouldn't let her jump, but they did and she didn't hesitate for a second.  I couldn't believe it.  I would be too scared to jump from it, but Piper just leapt straight in.  I am so proud of her and she inspires me to let go of my fears and just jump right in.  I think I need to jump off that platform.  

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Piper has been asking for a fish for a little while now and I was trying to wait until we moved into our new home later this year (I will update you with a post soon).  However, yesterday when I went to pick her up from her Nannies (my Mum's) she had asked Nannie to draw her a fish, which she then coloured in.  She also cut out extra fishes to stick on, "so the fishy wouldn't be lonely."  So, this time when she asked if she could please have a fish, I just had to say yes.  So, first thing this morning, we took our picture and went down to the pet shop. She then ran around and checked her picture against all the fish to make sure she chose the right one.  When she found them she said, "Perfect."  It was the most beautiful thing to watch and the lady in the store was so amazing.  She made sure that she picked the exact fish that Piper wanted.  It was just lovely.

We then came home and set up "Goldie's" new fish bowl with Unicorn (as every fish needs a unicorn, right?!)

Around Here.....

1.  Felix playing
2.  A beautiful gift that was lovingly left at our front door for Ava's sixth birthday
3.  Cute baby legs in amougst all the balloons and streamers that we used to fill Ava's room for her birthday
4.  Piper playing before swimming lessons

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Well, we are currently on our last week of school holidays.  It has gone so quickly and I'm not ready for   them to go back to school. Piper also starts Kindy this year and she is so excited about it.  I have decided that I need to become super organised as Piper already goes to swimming lessons, but she also wishes to go to Ballet. So, I need to have a slightly better idea of what I am doing.  I have always been a really organised person, but over the years (and most likely due to laziness) I have become so disorganised.  I spend my entire days, just stumbling through them and I really don't like it.  I even feel really chaotic, just writing this post.  So, in an effort to try and pull it together somehow, I will tell you about my new years resolutions.

BE MORE ORGANISED - As stated above, I need to get myself together.  I am now a mother of three and I need to have some idea of what is happening.  This also involves writing menu plans for the week and actually using my diary.  I have a diary and it's full of little bits of paper that have important dates and notes on them.  Most of these "little bits of paper" are extremely important and end up in the bottom of my bag (of which I have three, so I need to condense that into one), eaten by Felix (yes, he eats paper) or lost.  So, I really need to sort this out.

BE FITTER - I have become so unfit.  It's terrible.  I feel really old and I can feel my body getting tighter.  This really scares me as I am a mum to three young children and I want to be able to do fun things with them.  So, this is quite important to me.

BE MORE CREATIVE - I miss being creative.  I feel this will come, once I am more organised.  I can't think when everything is messy and dirty. It drives me crazy.  I need to start writing everything down that I wish to create.  My head has so many things going on in it at once.  It's just as cluttered and disorganised as my surrounding.

DO MORE FUN THINGS - I just need to have more fun with the kids and with Ash.  

That's pretty much it.  If I think of anything else, I will add it to this list and let you know in a blog post, which reminds me....

BLOG MORE - I love my little blog. 

The above photo was taken on Thursday, while Piper was playing after swimming lessons.  It has no relevance to this post and was the only photo that I had....

TAKE MORE PHOTOS - and use Ash's camera or at least my little camera.

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Yesterday we went into GoMA and it was such a beautiful day.  Ava was dressed and ready by 6am.  She gets very anxious about what is happening each day (as she is worried about going to school and doesn't understand the concept of holidays), so trying to keep her occupied and happy for the next two hours was a challenge, but we did make it in (happily) and we started with breakfast at the Cafe, which was delicious.

APT7 has started and there are so many fun things for kids to do.  We started in the Richard Mallory Yellow or Blue? 2012 instillation.  There are two sides - one is yellow and the other is blue and you create a costume out of blue or yellow cardboard.  You then stand on either side for a photo where you will either blend into the background (blue in our case) or stand out (on the yellow side, but we apparently don't like yellow - hence no photo).  You are not able to take the costume home, so we quickly rushed Ava through as we knew it would result in a meltdown if she couldn't keep it.  While Ash was having fun with Ava in a different section, I played with Piper and Felix.  Piper told me what she wanted and I cut it out.  She went for a heart with fairy wings and a crown.  She looked beautiful.

(Breakfast feet)

We then learnt about Kazakhstan in the Erbossyn Meldibekov interactive photography exhibit, Family Album: From Queensland to Kazahstan 2012.  In here, you can choose a background and then have your photograph taken as a virtual tourist.  It was a lot of fun and I've download a copy of the map, so I can try and teach the girls a little about the world.  

There are so many fun things to do, including walking through a light tunnel by Tromarama, to watch a fun stop-go animation called Wattt?!  

You can also play with lots of spot and dots in History is Made at Night 2012 by Daniel Boyd.

Or you can make a mask in the Uji Handoko Eko Saputro (aka Hahan) exhibit, Memento masko 2012. Ava loved this, but Piper did find it a little scary.  We didn't do everything, as we know Ava has a limit and we didn't want to push past it.  It also gives us the perfect excuse to go back.  xx

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Last Thursday, Ava finished school for the year.  At the beginning of the year, her teachers asked us what we wished for her to achieve.  We always wish for her to be happy, but we were also hoping that she would have some friends and to be able to read.  These two wishes have come true (we're not quite reading, but Ava does know a lot of her sight words).  Ava's class was full of the most beautiful little children, which were guided by an incredible teacher.  We know we will see them next year and we are so thankful to all of them for making Ava's year so beautiful.

I'm also wishing to return on a more regular basis to my blog.  Sadly, most of my photos are only taken on my phone, so I never feel like I have any that are particularly interesting or worth posting.  Ash has a rather fancy digital SLR camera, so I am hoping to learn how to use it more often and therefore, have some more publishable photos.

I hope you're having a beautiful Wednesday.  Felix is currently having a nap, so I'm off to do some sewing.  xx

Photos: 1:  Gifts for Ava's teachers and Teacher Aids
             2: Strawberry blonde eyelashes in the morning sun
             3. Felix in the bath xx

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Last night, Ava lost her first tooth.  It was rather traumatic for everyone involved, but thankfully we are all okay and Ava is back to sucking her thumb.  She is getting the day off school though. 

The Tooth Fairy was slightly unprepared for the event, but thankfully she can think quickly on her feet and found two very special books to slip under the girls pillows.  I know that Ava lost the tooth, but Piper was so supportive and we thought she deserved something too.  So, the top book is Ava's and it's called Shapes that Roll by Karen Nagel with illustrations by Steve Wilson.  It is just perfect.  The colours and illustrations are amazing and Ava has spent the morning just looking through the pages. 

While the second book is Press Here by Herve Tullet.  I love Herve Tullet and Piper and I have been reading this book all morning.  It's beautiful.  

I was also thinking that perhaps I deserved a little gift.  I've never been a fan of the colour gold or of denim (except in jeans or maybe a skirt), but I do love Harvest Textiles, dots and backpacks. So, I'm willing to put my dislikes aside for this amazing bag and I'm hoping that it will somehow find its way to me. xx