Hi there fellow Minti-ites,

Sorry haven't been on for a while, I've been quite busy. My girls are now very active and keeping me on my toes (Aaliyah is 3 and Krystana will be 2 in a few weeks), and I'm now 22 weeks pregnant, so that alone keeps be busy enough lol. Found out a few weeks ago that we're having a little boy.......so that's definitely going to be different lol.

I also doing a few things to help out with the family budget. It's not much, but I deliver both Homecare and Penny Miller catalogues - you know, those ones that are left infront of your front door and then collected a few days later, and if you want anything you just fill out an order form in the catalogue and receive it 2-3 weeks later. Add doing that to raising two children, growing a third, and trying to keep ontop of house duties (failing a bit in that department lol) and I'm a pretty busy Mummy lol.

Brandon has just finished a PCA/PSA course (ie, the course for people who want employment as an orderly) because he was told that the hospitals are crying out for orderlies, but apparently that has changed and the state government is make budget cuts which means they're not employing atm. Brandon's pretty down about it because it seems that everytime he does something to better his employment opportunities there's no work for whatever he's just done so he's not able to use his new skills & knowledge. He even did a few days work experience in a hospital and loved it.

Aaliyah is going to Kindy next year and is pretty excited about it. I can't believe it's only a few months away now before she starts "school" for the first time - time has just flown and she's just grown so quickly. It will be odd not having her home a few days a week. Providing the Baby is born on time or late, I'll even get a few weeks where it's just me and Krystana at home for a few days each week.

Anyway, that's about all the news I can think of. Hope you all are having a great day.

Had an interesting day today lol. When I woke up at 6am this morning it was still very dark outside and the power was out, but I could just glimpse flashing police lights through a crack in the curtains. So I decided to have a discrete peek outside. As I proceeded out the front door and up the driveway, the realisation that there was a very large power pole, and very long power lines, laying across the top of the driveway and within the garden sent me straight back inside again! The lines were just laying there, not looking dangerous at all, but I was not game enough to take any chances. I immediately rang the power company and just as they answered I noticed one of their trucks turned up, search lights on, to assess the situation, so someone had managed to inform them already. The reason for the fallen power lines? Apparently the Eucalyptus tree out the front had lost a major limb during the heavy rains and squalling winds during the night (apparantly they reached up to 120Km/hr!)

So for the next 8 hours there were power company trucks coming and going from infront of my house, and my girls LOVED watching the whole affair. We had a crane lifting and moving the old power pole, as well as removing what was left of it still in the ground, and positioning the new pole. We saw the traffic controllers re-directing traffic and lots of men in bright yellow safety gear walking around doing stuff and re-doing stuff. I felt sorry for them all cause it was still pouring down with rain alot of the time and they had to work despite it all.

By just after 2pm our power was reconnected and things were returning to normal. We've just been told that it's supposed to get rather windy again tonight! lol

Hello Fellow Minti-ites!

Sorry it's been awhile since my last blog but things have pretty much gone on as normal here. However, today I found out there is change in the air! Hahahahaha We are expecting the pitter patter of little feet for the third time here at our house.  I'm only about 5 weeks prego, so is still very early days as yet, but we're pretty happy and excited here. Krystana will be 2 by the time #3 is born, so we thought that's a nice gap between them, and we have thought about having about 4 in total. So pretty pleased here - now just gotta think about how to explain it to the kiddies hahahaa.

Aside from that, today we were looking at a school to put Aaliyah in for Kindy next year. We're thinking about putting her in Dale Christian School here in perth - as we like the smaller, more intimate classes of a private school, and they also incorporate our Christian faith into every bit of their curriculum which is important to us. We only found out the other day that the deputy principle of the school goes to our church and is the wife of a man Brandon has been chatting to every Sunday morning - talk about a small world hahahaha, considering the church we go to is a good 30 minute drive from where we are (the school is another 10 minutes or so away). The teachers and principles were really nice and gave us the full tour of the school, which teaches from Kindy all the way through to year 12.

Anyway that's about all the news I have. Hope you all are have a great week!

Cheers,

Pia.

Yep, today was Aaliyah's 3rd birthday - 2:50am this morning to be precise. It started off with both girls waking up just before 7am where they were ushered into the loungeroom to behold a number of balloons blown up and resting on the carpet, just waiting to be played with. When they saw them, both Aaliyah and Krystana squealed with delight and "dived in" lol. Within about 30mins the first balloon popped, but the rest managed to survive the day lol. At 8am they had a breakfast of strawberry jam on toast, with a glass of milk to drink. I was thinking about cooking pancakes, but Aaliyah's not too keen on them yet (but she LOVES toast).

After breakfast it was time to go back to normal play until Daddy woke up about an hour later - then it was present opening time hehehe. The first 3 presents were mostly winter clothes, as she'd gone through a recent growth spurt and most of her winter clothes no longer fitted. There were a number of super cute outfits lol. We also bought her some pretty hair accessories and a new hair brush - which she loves. Her hair is long enough to do things with, and every night now she goes to bed with her hair plaited.

Her last and biggest present from Brandon and I was her very first bicycle! Yep, my little 3 yr old is the proud owner of a real bike, with training wheels! And she absolutely LOVES it! She spent alot of the day playing with it and jumping on and off it - and we are trying to teach her how to ride it, which she's starting to pick up on. She can't move the pedals very well yet but she has worked out that she needs to use them to get forward motion - add that to the trying to steer the bike and she's got quite a task ahead of her, but I don't think it will take her long to have it all figured out!

Grandma (my Mum) was next and gave her a lovely new outfit. It was really good because it coordinated with some of the clothes we bought her so that was good.

Nanna (MIL) came over about an hour later and also gave her a new outfit and porcelan angel sitting on a half moon and praying - it's beautiful and Aaliyah loves it. At the moment it's hanging on their door until I can find a new place to hang it.

The rest of the day was spent playing and generally enjoying herself. At dinner time we enjoyed a lovely lamb roast, with roast carrot, onions and potatoes, and vegies from the freezer, covered in gravy - DELICIOUS and entirely cooked by Daddy hehehe. To top off the day, dinner was followed by Birthday cake! A lovely Black Forrest Cake from the Cheesecake Shop around the corner....MMMMM!

Following this it was bath time, then a quick story and prayer time, and bed! After such an exciting day it didn't take long for either of them to fall asleep lol. It's now 10:15pm and even Daddy has gone to bed lol - must've knackered him out too! lol

To My Beloved Aaliyah,

You are a treasure and we love you. Have a great day sweetheart.

Lots of Love,

Mummy, Daddy, and Krystana.

Well my Mum has now been here for just over a week and it's been mostly great. There have been a couple of edgy times but these will improve as we all readjust to living together and working on getting along for the sake of all in the house.

Last weekend we had a visiting minister come to church. His name is Roy Fields, and he was the music leader during a revival that occured last year in Florida, USA, where many people were healed, had personal experiences with God, and other awesome miracles happened - one night everyone there could even here angels singing! It was awesome!!!

The first meeting was on Friday night, but Brandon and I didn't go as it was our 5th wedding anniversary and we spent the night out while Mum stayed home watching the kids for us. On Saturday night Brandon stayed home with the girls and Mum and I went - it was awesome!!! The guy was so real, and although he was absolutely hilarious, his message was all about being yourself and getting intimate with Jesus again. The meeting itself started at 6pm, but we didn't get home until just before midnight!!

On Sunday night (the last meeting) Mum and I went on our own again as Brandon stayed home with the girls. This time, however, we discovered that the meetings could be watched over the internet so although Brandon was at home, he was able to watch it live over the net. Again Roy was hilarious, but that night he gave his own personal testamony about how he was raised in the church scene and so knew how it all worked but he yearned for something more. He told how at the age of 21 he'd had enough of religion and through desperation told God plainly that what he'd seen and experienced at Church was not enough and that wanted something real, something deeper, something life changing or else he wanted none of it. God heard his prayer, heard the cry of his heart, and ever since then Roy has had a passion within him that burns to show people what Jesus is really like, and how much he loves them, and help those who confess to be Christian to find their passion and love for Jesus again. He also told of how God had delivered him from drug, alcohol and sex addictions, so he knew personally how Jesus can change a persons life completely, never to be the same again.

All in all it was an absolutely awesome weekend! My love for Jesus has increased dramatically because I felt the depth of his love for me on a level I never knew before. He sees me, just as I am, with all my faults, with all my fears, and with all the stuff I've done wrong (including all the times I've deliberately done what wasn't right and knew it!) and he still sees past all that to the person inside yearning to be loved, yearning to know her creator, and loves me with a passion I've never experienced before. He's taken my past, with all the stuff I did wrong, and completely removed them from me. He's taken my heart, full of hurt and pain, and filled it with his love. And each day as the sun rises it reminds me of his ever faithful love for me and for the whole world - because just as the sun surely rises every morning, so he is there always, beckoning us to receive his love, receive his forgiveness, and experience a joy and peace unspeakable that nothing else in the world compares to it. 

Just wanted to share my weekend with you all - hope you all have a good week. 

Hi all!

Sorry about not blogging lately, but I've been quite busy and then when I think of it - I can't think of what to blog about - a rather strange predicament.

My girls are looking forward to tomorrow with great anticipation as My Mum is moving up from Denmark to Perth tomorrow (about 4hr drive from each other). She is moving in with us for a while, just until she's settled from the move and manages to find her own place to live. I am looking forward to it mostly, but it's also going to be interesting as we are used to our way of doing things and she is used to being on her own - so their will need to be a fair deal of compromise on both sides to help things go smoothly. I am looking forward to the extra help with the kiddies when Daddy and I need some time away, as well as someone to talk to about girly things.

Last Tuesday we had a rent inspection, which of coarse involved lawn mowing, edging, and weeding the gardens, and cleaning the house thoroughly beforehand. This took about 4 days to do in all - mostly because of needing times of rest and of coarse the kiddies still needed their time with Mum and Dad.

Then yesterday I finally got cracking on the spare room, as although my Mum had said she could sleep in Aaliyah's room I thought it would be better for her to have her own room. The girls share a room and have been doing so for a while now - but the room that was Krystana's remained a "spare" room and had had all kinds of things chucked in there just for somewhere to put them. So yesterday I spent most of the day sorting things out - sorting out Krystana's clothes (putting away what doesn't fit her and putting what does in with Aaliyah's clothes in their room), threw out lots of books that I no longer wanted or was never going to read, sorted and threw out lots of papers (torn up of coarse), put other stuff in the shed and did a general clean to get rid of dust, etc. Looks so much better now - her bed is in there, as well as an armchair (incase she wants to sit and read in privacy or something), a small empty bookcase, a fan, and a small set of drawers. Our large bookcase is still in there (full of books), but that's only 'cause we have nowhere else to put it and still manage to keep it away from little hands.

After finishing that room I then decided to rearrange the girls room as their was now space under their beds where I could store the toys that used to live in the spare room. So I proceeded to rearrange their furniture and thoroughly vacuum where I couldn't before because the furniture was there.

All in all I am a happy camper now that is all done. Before Mum arrives tomorrow I want to bake her a cake as it was her Birthday earlier in the month and we were unable to celebrate it with her, as well as do a bit of a general clean around the house.

Hope you've all had a good week and enjoy an even better one to come!

I really want to blog about something, but have no idea right now what about. Ever get that? It's quite a strange sensation really - like you've got something important to say but no idea what it's about. Maybe it's just me lol - it's slowly getting later in the night and mayby I'm a little bored waiting for Aaliyah to fall asleep, or maybe I'm trying to resist going to bed even though I'm really tired, just because I don't want to yet. LOL - maybe I'm just going crazy hahaha . I must confess I haven't been on here as often as I used to - I still pop by daily (or at least every couple of days), check a few blogs, have a look at some of the questions that've been asked, and then I'm usually off again.

I have noticed though that time almost seems like it's speeding up. It might just be as I'm getting older, but I don't think so. Personally I think there's more to it than that, but I won't go into that here. When I was younger (not a child) it definitely took longer to go through a day. Now my days start and finish in what feels like a blink. I look back over my day and think what on earth did I manage to do in the last 24hrs?! I certainly feel like I didn't get enough play time with my girls, but at the same time I feel like I didn't get enough time alone (or prayer time) to refresh and get strength so as to get back to my day. And what little time I get alone with Brandon goes in like a flash and feels like we've had no quality time together at all. Anyone else experiencing the same sort of thing? Even my girls have shot up before my very eyes, and the babies I was cuddling what feels like yesterday, are growing so quickly and becoming quite independant and their own little person. Aaliyah's completely toilet trained and her understanding of things is increasing exponentially (sp?) daily. Krystana is now the only one in nappies, talking and understanding what is said (both what is said by us and by herself), and walking very well. She LOVES to walk and even has moments where she will cry because we've picked her up when she wants to walk.

One other thing. Why is it sisters can fight like cats and dogs during the day, but then be all lovey at night? For the past few nights Krystana's been falling asleep first, and managing to stay that way (despite whatever noise Aaliyah makes), until Aaliyah decides to jump into the cot with Krystana and ends up waking her up. Then of coarse there's lots of crying from Krystana, a talking to from us, and Aaliyah is put back into her own bed - only for us to find her back in the cot when the next crying session starts. This has already happened so many times tonight I've lost count - and it's 9:30pm already!! It wouldn't bother me so much to find them both in the cot together asleep, but that doesn't happen!!! And when we walk in, Aaliyah immediately stands up, holding out her hands to be lifted back out of the cot and saying "Mummy/Daddy". Grrrrrrrrr children!

Anyway, that's about all I have to say.......I think lol. I still have this weird feeling that there's more but then this would probably turn into a very long, boring blog lol. Sorry if this bored anyone.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and an even better week :)

Hey all!

Well, I have had a very surprising weekend. About 11am Friday Morning I had been to playgroup with the girls, but  had left early to go to the bank to sort out some stuff, and while waiting I got a call from my Dad. It was a pleasant surprise because he lives in Darwin (about 2-3hrs away by plane) and we're both usually so busy we don't call each other alot. Anyway, after the initial greetings, he asks me where exactly I live, and I tell him, and then he says "What are you doing tomorrow?" (Saturday) and as soon as he said that I had to ask, "Are you in Perth?!" Sure enough he was!!! He was supposed to be in a town just outside of Adelaide for four days, but after he got off the plane in Adelaide no one could tell him where to catch his bus to go where he was supposed to, so he ended up missing it. Anyway, he ended up going back to the airport, getting his money back on his bus ticket, and then instead of flying back to Darwin, he inquired when the next plane to Perth was and jumped on it. No one in the Family knew he was coming, and even he wasn't quite sure what he was going to do when he got here.

Once he arrived in Perth he hired a car and booked a motel room. Then proceeded to call his family and tell them he was here. It was a great surprise as they hadn't seen him in Years! I myself Hadn't seen my Dad since my wedding which was almost 5 yrs ago.

So Brandon, Myself and both girls jumped straight into the car and went to see him at his motel room. We spent the next 5 hrs catching up with him and just spending time with him. This was the first time he'd even seen the girls and he was absolutely captivated by them! They took a little while to get past their shyness, but then he offered Aaliyah a "Hi-five" and that was it! lol She wanted more! lol. We left about 5pm, cause the kids needed some dinner and rest (lots of excitement for one day lol).

Saturday I did a few things around the house, then at Lunchtime rang Dad to get my uncles address off him (Dad was staying with his brother for the last day/night before heading home). Then headed over to spend the rest of the afternoon and until about 9pm. Saw an number of Family members on my Dad's side that I hadn't seen for a while 'cause they all came to see Dad too. No one there, except my Nanna, had seen our girls before so they were fussed over alot lol.

We got home about 9:30pm, where I promptly bathed them and sent them to bed. They were out of it as soon as their head's hit their pillows lol.

Today, we've spent pretty much just recovering from our busy weekend. Went to Church this morning, and both kids fell asleep in the car on the way back lol. Was soo cute. It's now 2:45pm and they've just woken up. Oh well, Back to normal life now lol - hope you all had a great weekend, and have a good week!

Cheers,

Pia

P.S. Here's a few photo's:

Krystana at playgroup Friday Morning (Aaliyah in background)

Grandad and Girls playing Hi-five at motel

Aaliyah & Grandad

Krystana & Grandad playing Hi-five (or hi-foot lol)

Yep! My little 15 month old Daughter Krystana is finally walking unassisted! It first happened on Friday afternoon - she started talking 3 or 4 steps on her own before crawling, but yesterday and today she began taking more steps on her own! At least 10 on my last count!!!! We are soooo pleased!! She has grown up so much and so fast! She talks AND walks! Hahahahaha - World Watch out!! It was so cute when she walked on her own cause even Aaliyah got in on the cheers and was clapping her hands and cheering "Yay!!! Clever 'stana!" (or should I say "Cleber!" cause she can't pronounce 'v' yet haha). This of course set Krystana off clapping and cheering her self - with big grins and lots of "Yayayayayay!" at herself lol. She did fall down a couple of times but just kept getting up and continued practicing her walking.

Aaliyah is doing well also. She's very creative - loves doing crafty things at playgroup and making different things, as well as lots of drawing and playing with playdoe at home. She loves watching over Krystana, and although she can get possessive over certain toys and be a bit bossy, she's quickly learning to share and be kind. She loves to look after Krystana, whether Krystana wants her to or not lol. Her understanding of things is really developing rapidly, as is her speech. She loves to sing songs and her two favourites at the moment are "Galoomf went the little green frog" (sp?) and "The goodbye song" from Bear in the Big Blue House. She loves that song and asks me to sing it almost daily! As you can imagine I now know the words by heart, but it's so cute to hear her sing along with me.

Brandon and I are doing really well. My Mum paid for us to get a Satelite dish put up in our house so we could get 12 channels of completely Christian tv. I think it cost her about $200-$300 but this is a one-off charge for the dish itself and the set up - no monthly on-going costs at all! The only other charge is if you move house then it costs about $100 to unistall and reinstall everything at the new house. We have really enjoyed the new stations and now very rarely watch normal television. There's even a childrens channel which broadcasts 100% Christian children's programmes 24/7 - cartoons, movies, shows similar to Humpfrey/Fat cat, etc. There's also a channel that's aimed at 13-30 yr olds which plays HEAPS of music (very similar to rage and vidoe hits), movies, and other programmes. We love the channels and have really grown and changed heaps with exposure to them. We love more, are much happier, and feel great knowing what our kids are exposed to is clean and safe, and will help bring out the best in them. The guy who installed it gets most of his business through word of mouth. He lives mainly near Albany (about 4hr's drive south) but comes to Perth (where I am) every couple of weeks.

Anyway, that's about all the news I have. I hope you all have a great week this week! Love you all!