Monday, January 31

PAD - January 31 - A Basket of Goodness


PAD - Jan 31 - Bundled In A Basket


I've been wanting to do a photo like this for a while... so I took the opportunity while Elizabeth was at kindy today... Lucky, I did, because Catherine only just fit in the basket, if I left it much longer Catherine would be toppling out it! (Normally it holds nappies under the change table).

For the photography inclined... I also took advantage of the content aware feature in CS5 in the post processing of this photo... I'm happy with how it turned out. Note to self though - remember to iron the flannelette sheet used as a backdrop before you use it... the wrinkles do show up!

And there we have it... photo-a-day for January is finished! Thanks to Em and Phong for keeping me company on the journey and who completed the month with me (and thanks to everyone else who gave it a go and joined in the fun in some way during the month)... it's been a great month of photos, I've loved seeing what you've all come up with! I'm half contemplating doing PAD for Feb, but we'll see how my motivation is tomorrow... :)

Sunday, January 30

PAD - January 30 - Flowergirl Shoes


PAD - Jan 30 - Flowergirl Shoes


(This post is for Bao... :))

Went shopping today and we got Elizabeth these shoes to wear when she is flowergirl at her Bac Bao Anh & Uncle Ty's wedding... She loved them... the first pair was a size too small and she said "They're too tight!"... the second pair she told me "They're perfect... they feel soft."... so it was a done deal after that... :)
Now to get her to wear them around the house to break them in a little... don't think that'll be too hard, esp if I tell her they are dancing shoes and she wears her tutu with them.... :)

Saturday, January 29

PAD - January 29 - Jemima Goes To The Park


PAD - Jan 29 - Jemima Goes To The Park


I took Elizabeth to the park at lunch time today... Phan had spent the morning mowing the lawn, so he stayed home and rested with Catherine and I thought we had better go while we could in case it rained this afternoon... It was actually lovely weather to be out and about, not too humid... and a nice breeze blowing about. She decided to take Jemima along on the back of her bike today... She's not the most coordinated child (she forgets to steer sometimes and needs to practise braking!), but she is getting better at riding her bike... Once we were at the park just loved pushing Jemima on the swing... It's so funny, because I think Elizabeth wishes she liked swings... but the motion freaks her out, so she projects her love for swings on Jemima. She really enjoyed pushing Jemima in the swing. She kept saying to me... "I don't like going high on swings, but Jemima does... look... see? Weeeeeeeee!!!!!"


Elizabeth and Jemima


It's a good thing Jemima likes swings... :)

Friday, January 28

PAD - January 28 - Close, But Not Quite...


PAD - Jan 28 - Close, But Not Quite...


(The following conversation takes place whilst at the supermarket on Monday...)

*walking down the first aid aisle*
Elizabeth - "Mum look! This box has my name on it!"
Me - "Uh... it almost looks like your name doesn't it..."
Elizabeth - "Yes... See, it starts with 'E'... Elizabeth... look all these boxes say 'Elizabeth'..."
Me - "Actually, it says 'Elastoplast'..."
Elizabeth - "What's 'Elastoplast'?"
Me - "It's a brand for bandaids."
Elizabeth "E... L... A... S... T... O... P... L... A... S... T.... Bandaid! Those letters say bandaid!"

Hilarious no? She is so interested in words and letters and what things say at the moment...

Thursday, January 27

PAD - January 27 - I Should Be On Masterchef...


PAD - Jan 27 - I Should Be On Masterchef...


LOL... well, not really, but aren't my little rice cubes cute? For Christmas my sister got me this little kitchen gadget that makes little rice cubes... I made this with xoi and lap xuong (sticky rice and the chinese sausage also known as lup cheong) and it did get a bit messy and sticky, but on the whole is wasn't too bad...

(The device claims to be able to be used with plain normal rice, but I didn't have a great deal of success in that department... it would be great with sushi rice though!)

I know it's not particularly healthy, but it brings me back to my childhood 'cos this is something that my mum used to make for us for breakfast occasionally when we were growing up... Elizabeth also really enjoyed having her little cubes of rice for lunch (she had two of them).


Rice Cubes For Lunch

Wednesday, January 26

Having a grand ole time...


Having a grand ole time...

Cuddles with friends


Yesterday afternoon we looked after Veronica for a couple of hours while her mum went to a parent meeting at her kindy... the girls had a ball... played together so well together and pretty much just preoccupied themselves... There was much laughter, dancing, dressing up and giggles ... I managed to snap these two shots of the girls together... They've known each other for 3 years now and it's so nice to seem them so grown up now... They really have become such good friends...

PAD - January 26 - Lucky To Be Australian


PAD - Jan 26 - Lucky To Be Australian


Australia... our home... our country... a land of freedom and opportunity... we are thankful that we live here.

(And nothing says Australia like thongs does it? And yes - I did buy these thongs esp for my photo-a-day... they were only $2, which was cheaper than buying an Australian flag!)

The big girl and I also made lamingtons today to celebrate Australia Day... thought I'd share some action shots of the process -


Australia Day Lamingtons

Tuesday, January 25

But I'm Not Tired...


but i'm not tired...


After her second big morning at kindy she tried to convince me today that she wasn't tired and didn't need a nap... LOL... not a very convincing argument, 'cos not even 10 minutes later, I found her like this...

PAD - January 25 - Camp Out


PAD - Jan 25 - Camp Out


Yesterday afternoon, Elizabeth came up with the idea to use her Sesame Street tent outside for a "camp out"... She decked it out with cushions and blankets and a couple of soft toy friends and even built a pretend fire after collecting some sticks in the yard. Phan, Catherine and I sat outside and had dinner while she frolicked in her tent... and then when it started getting late, we told her it was time to pack it up and go inside and she got *really* upset...

"But I want to camp outside when it gets dark and when the stars come out..." she sniffled between crying and lots of tears.

Not fancying her (or us) getting eaten alive by bugs (we are all mosquito/bug/insect magnets and tend to get bitten a lot!) We managed to convince her it would be better to camp inside (and can I mention it took *a lot* of convincing!)... So we set her tent up in her room and last night she slept in her tent. She is such a funny chicken... Being the dainty, delicate princess that she is, sleeping outdoors was the last thing I ever imagined she'd want to do!

So today's photo is what her bedroom looked like this morning... tent complete with campfire (that's those sticks at the front of her tent)... I can't believe she slept in it all night... it gets *REALLY* hot in there... but hey, that's what she wanted...

Thought I'd also share some of the photos of her playing in her tent outside yesterday before we made her go indoors.


Camp out

Monday, January 24

PAD - January 24 - She's a Big Kindy Girl


PAD - Jan 24 - I'm a Big Kindy Girl


Today I left her for a morning at kindy... She is so ready and seems so much more grown up now, compared to when I started her at daycare this time last year. She was still really happy to see me when I came to pick her up though and came running and calling out "Mummy!", which really made me feel loved... :)

Apparently today she:

- played in the sandpit and made a sandcastle and roads with Claire
- played on the playground and pretended she was in a boat
- played "trees" with Claire (no idea how this game eventuated, but apparently they rescue each other out of a pretend tree...)
- played dress ups and she wore a white skirt and Claire wore a beautiful green dress.
- had a vegemite sandwich for morning tea and drank some water
- listened to the teacher read a story about a dinosaur claw

That's quite a morning of activity! I'm so happy she's enjoying her new kindy and that she had such a fun time.

She hasn't napped this afternoon (surprising after all that excitement), but had some downtime watching playschool while having some lunch. And then we have been doing some puzzles (she is so into puzzles at the moment) and playing uno and doing some weird random imaginary games with my ribbon stash...

*sigh*... I'm still a tad nostalgic about it all, even though I'm used to her going to the daycare... this will the year before she starts school! Now that thought scares me!

Sunday, January 23

PAD - January 23 - A Photo That Sums Her Up


PAD - Jan 23 - A Photo That Sums Her Up


Sometimes it's the imperfect moments that really best describe a person... This photo really sums up Elizabeth... I had asked her if I could take a photo of her and this is the pose she chose to do for me... Quirky randomness at it's best.

The messy hair and the headband pushed forward is how she looks at home about 90% of the time (I'm always telling her to push her headband back)... (And yes, I'm forever fixing her hair before I take photos of her.) She loves wearing it over her forehead for some reason... drives me nuts, because the the purpose of a headband is to keep the hair out of your face, but she purely uses it as an accessory, not as something functional... She will quite happily walk around with the hair all over her face and the headband pulled forward over her forehead...

For all her crazy little quirks, she makes me laugh and I love her.

Saturday, January 22

PAD - January 22 - The Coolest Toys on the Block


PAD - Jan 22 - Coolest Toys on the Block


Three of Elizabeth's Pororo friends I found in the doorway of my bedroom this afternoon. They were having a birthday party for Loopy (the pink thing - wearing the necklace) and the puzzle box was the birthday cake and that little bottle of Cinderella perfume was the birthday present... She is so obsessed with birthday parties at the moment!

Friday, January 21

Kindy Orientation Day


kindy orientation


Today we had orientation day at Elizabeth's new C&K kindy... We've talked about it casually the last few weeks and she's been helping me to pick out the design of her new name labels and then labelling her new lunchbox... I've been getting the impression of late that she has missed going to the daycare kindy/preschool at the childcare centre (it's been almost 2 months she last went) because she has been making me play a game with her where I am Elizabethe and she is the teacher and we re-enact a kindy day... it's pretty cute because I get a little insight into what a day at the childcare is like.

Anyway, she really had a wonderful time today... she painted, drew, did puzzles, played with playdough, played kitchens, played with blocks and lego, had morning tea and played outside on the playground. Her best friend Claire is in her class too and the two of them had so much fun together... The session only went for 2 hours and was really just a chance for the children to get a feel for the kindy with Mum and/or Dad there with them... Claire and Elizabeth could have stayed there longer than the two hours though, they were enjoying it that much! We'll be leaving them on their own next week for a 1/2 day, so that'll be the real test, but I think Elizabeth will be fine. She actually said to me (of her own accord) "Mum, I like the new kindy!" and when I asked her why she liked it she said "I like it 'cos it's fun!".. so that's a promising sign!

I only snapped these few photos at the end of session as I hadn't thought to take any photos earlier on... but they give you a glimpse of how much she's going to enjoy kindy this year!

PAD - January 21 - 8 Months Old (And I'll Cry If I Want To)


PAD - Jan 21 - 8 months old (and I'll cry if I want to)


She's 8 months old today... and it's every 8 month old's prerogative to cry if they want to...

I actually got heaps of lovely shots of her today (dress courtesy of Chu Phong - he's got good taste huh?), but I thought I'd make this my photo of the day because:

(a) it shows she isn't always the perfect posing baby
(b) it makes me laugh... She can be so cute when she's whingy... (but only in small
doses... after a little while it does get annoying!)

And just to prove I'm not a mean mummy for a taking a photo of my grumpy munchkin,
here's the happy version of the 8 months old taken a couple of minutes earlier -


The Happy Version of the 8 Month Old


and then a couple of minutes after the whingy shot, Elizabeth came in to see what we were doing and started teasing Catherine with her lunch -


I Want That Sandwich

Thursday, January 20

PAD - January 20 - Spotty Dotty


PAD - Jan 20 - Spotty Dotty


My charming little doll wearing her brand new outfit... I finished making the peasant top with flutter sleeves last night and couldn't wait for her to try it on today... I'm really happy with how it turned out and it matches beautifully with her ruffle nappy cover.


Homemade Cuteness

Wednesday, January 19

PAD - January 19 - Look No Hands (or Feet!)


PAD - Jan 19 - Look No Hands (or Feet!)


She's getting pretty good at sitting now... :)

Tuesday, January 18

PAD - January 18 - Hot


PAD - Jan 18 - Hot


A hot pink gerbera from a flower arrangement that Phan and Elizabeth bought for my Mum's birthday last week... Taken in the morning at around 7am and it was already getting hot here in Brissie... it got to 35 degrees today (the hottest day in Brisbane in 12 months!) and was incredibly humid! We spent half the day at Elizabeth's friend Veronica's house and they don't have aircon, so we really felt the heat today! However, the girls did get to splash around in the pool. They had a ball... and it was the first time I had ever let Elizabeth go in the water by herself... I'm normally always in the water with her, but with Catherine, I couldn't go in, so Catherine and I sat on the edge of the pool dangling our feet in the water. We were close enough so that if anything had happened, I could have quickly put Catherine down and jumped in the pool to help the girls... but they were fine They are both reasonably sensible and both have a lot of water confidence, so it was just lovely to see how much they've grown up as they swam around together and talked and played together in the water... And it was refreshing for us to just sit by the pool and dangle our feet in the water.

The extreme humidity of the day had me guessing there would be a thunderstorm tonight and I wasn't wrong... the BOM issued a severe thunderstorm warning at 3pm saying a really bad storm was passing over Ipswich, Logan and Brisbane and it was going to pass directly over our suburb in the north... I got quite worried and battened down the hatches and kept an eye on everything and it got very dark and windy and pelted down with rain for a short while, but then passed over without too much incidence. I think we were quite lucky, 'cos I was reading the QLD Police FB page and it appeared that it hit really hard in other parts within our suburb as other houses were without power, trees had fallen on powerlines and there was general chaos in our area. We still had power and everything was still ok, so we definitely escaped the worst of it. The weather forecasters say this Brisbane wet storm season which La Nina has brought will last about another 8 weeks (which is roughly the start of autumn)... Honestly, I can't wait for this summer to be over... I'm regularly checking the BOM and every storm has me worried now!!!

Monday, January 17

PAD - January 17 - Afternoon Serenity


PAD - Jan 17 - Afternoon Serenity


I made the big girl a new dress today... another peasant style dress in a lovely light cotton voile fabric, perfect for the heat of summer... ... She loves her new dress and was quite obliging when I asked her to model it for me this afternoon...

And one more photo I want to share... She'd just woken up from an afternoon nap, so her hair was all ruffled and unruly... I love how it looks in this shot -


Fresh From A Nap

Sunday, January 16

PAD - January 16 - Too Cool For Sleep


PAD - Jan 16 - Too Cool For Sleep


After insisting that she wasn't going to fall asleep in the car... 5 minutes from home, she did...

Saturday, January 15

PAD - January 15 - Why Am I Still Awake?


PAD - Jan 15 - Why Am I Still Awake?


I have no idea why, but Catherine decided to be a party animal tonight and stayed up for 3.5 hours+... (She normally cracks it at about 2.5 hours, at most 3 hours.) We tried to put her down to sleep twice when she started rubbing her eyes, but each time we did she went crazy-happy and was very awake when we put her in the cot and started yelling angrily, so we just got her up and she was happy to sit in the lounge playing with her toys. Not sure if we should be changing her routine and dropping a nap, but given she has very little routine (and not from a lack of trying!) and she naps anywhere from 2- 4 times a day, I'm not sure what we should be doing at the moment... Guess we'll just do what we always do and go with the flow...

Friday, January 14

PAD - January 14 - The Beginning


PAD - Jan 14 - The Beginning


We have another sunny day here in Brisbane today... but there is such an irony to it... The worst of the Brisbane floods has come and been and left behind such devastating, heartbreaking damage... We are so lucky to be safe and dry and for our lives to be continuing as normal, where for many their lives have now been turned upside down. So now it begins ... the daunting task of the recovery...

Thursday, January 13

PAD - January 13 - Happy Heavenly Birthday Mum


PAD - Jan 13 - Happy Birthday Mum


Happy Heavenly Birthday Mum! We miss you everyday... Lots of love from all of us and big cuddles from your 2 granddaughters.... xoxoxo

Wednesday, January 12

PAD - January 12 - The Calm Before The Chaos


PAD - Jan 12 - The Calm Before The Chaos


After not seeing the sun for days, this morning looks deceivingly beautiful - the fresh morning air... the blue sky... the mesmorising golden glow... If one was completely unaware of the events of yesterday, it would be easy to be oblivious to the fact that floods are going to occur across Brisbane today...

Praying for everyone today in Brisbane (and Queensland)... Hold tight...

Tuesday, January 11

PAD - January 11 - The Cupboard Was Bare


PAD - Jan 11 - The Cupboard Was Bare


(photo taken with my iphone)

I ducked out to my local woolworths tonight to stock up on nappies for Catherine and some other small things in the event that Brisbane gets cut off and there are issues with getting grocery supplies... Even though it was 8:30pm, I'm pretty sure that the milk cabinet doesn't normally look this bare!!! We aren't even in a low-lying area or an area that is expected to be affected by flood... (although, with the unprecedented events that have happened, anything is possible) Everyone is stocking up, 'cos there was also no bread, no bottled water or long life milk or baked beans! My pantry is generally pretty full, so we probably have enough food to get us through a fortnight or so. They say tomorrow is going to be bad and Thursday is going to be devastating... Please keep Brisbane in your thoughts and prayers...

Monday, January 10

PAD - January 10 - Bippity Boppity Boo


PAD - Jan 10 - Bippity Boppity Boo


Cinderella is rather popular with the girl at the moment (has been for a few months actually)... She got this Cinderella dress up costume for Christmas from her Auntie Emmi... On Christmas Day she put in on for a grand total of... I don't know... 1 minute maybe, until insisting on taking it off 'cos it was hot... (granted, she did have a point, it was a hot day!)... Today is the first time she has put it on since Christmas (I think she had memories of it being hot!)... But she adored it and pranced and danced around to bippity boppity boo all morning...

Thanks Auntie Emmi... it's a hit! :)

Sunday, January 9

PAD - January 9 - Baby Batwings


PAD - Jan 9 - Baby Batwings


Since 3 months of age, Catherine has been sleeping in one these new generation sleeping wraps... This one is called the Love Me Baby, Wrap Me Up. It looks bizarre, but she loves this thing... It lets her sleep snuggly wrapped, but with just enough movement to have access to her arms and sleep in the natural arms up position that babies love to do. She has slept pretty well in it to date, but she is close to growing out of it now... so we are just starting to wean her off the wrap and let her have her arms free (which is resulting in a lot of disruptive sleep at the moment!)

In recent weeks she has started flapping her arms around a lot in it at night when she isn't tired or is excited... doing what we have termed "the batwing thing"...

Thought I better capture her in the wrap before we wean her completely off it... It's been an important part of our lives ... She has had a lot of naps and night time sleeps in it and it has given me much sanity...

As a random side note, the first time I put Catherine in this, Elizabeth asked me "What is Catherine wearing?!"... I told her it was a sleeping bag and she said to me "She looks a bit like a puppet!"... LOL... that really made me laugh, because she does look like a puppet with her arms like that...

Saturday, January 8

PAD - January 8 - My Big Little Girl


PAD - Jan 8 - My Big Little Girl


Elizabeth has grown up so much in this last year... and whilst I often refer to her as the "big girl", because compared to Catherine she seems so big, she really is still very much my little girl...

She loves painting, art and craft... is somewhat of a baker extraordinaire and is always willing to help out in the kitchen...

She enjoys pottering outside in the garden... and a bit of a tech wizz when it comes to using the media centre for the tv and the iphone/ipad.

She is into all things girly... dresses, dolls, soft toys, jewellery... and the latest thing... *perfume* (she got some kiddy cinderella perfume from one of our friends for Christmas and thinks it's awesome)... She is mostly helpful, polite and quiet spoken.... but definitely has her moments when she is quirky, crazy and out there!

She adores her little sister and loves to make her smile and laugh.

Love you to the moon and back my big little girl... xo

Friday, January 7

PAD - January 7 - My Clown


PAD - Jan 7 - My Clown


A couple of months ago, I caught Elizabeth with toothpaste smeared all over her face pretending to be a clown... I had promised her back then I would get some face paint so I could turn her into a clown and she had seemed to have forgotten all about it until the other night she saw a photo I had taken of her with the toothpaste all over her face and she remembered! So yesterday she was asking me repeatedly if we could go to the shops to get something to turn her into a clown. A quick trip to the $2 shop and I picked up a cheap pack of face painting crayons and turned her into a clown yesterday. She loved it so much she asked me to do it again today... at 8:30am!!! She tells me she can't wait for Daddy to get home from work so she can show him...

(Excuse the lack of face painting skill, but I did also have a grumpy and wiggly 7 month old on my lap at the time... in hindsight, probably, not a great idea!)

Thursday, January 6

PAD - January 6 - Ooey Gooey Face


PAD - Jan 6 - Ooey Gooey Face


Breakfast time for Miss Catherine... pear and apricot mush... delish...

Chubby Little Munchkin


chubby little munchkin


Some more shots from the shoot with Catherine the other day...

Wednesday, January 5

So Grown Up


Great Grandma's Hat


I'm still yet to go through all the Adelaide photos, but this one caught my eye, so I thought I'd share... This is the big girl wearing Ba Co's (great grandma's) hat whilst in the garden doing what she referred to as "farming"... she loved "farming" on Ong and Ba's "farm"... basically this involved collecting lots of pebbles and rocks from the garden into buckets! I can't believe how grown up she looks in this shot...

PAD - January 5 - Breakfast Anyone?


PAD - Jan 5 - Breakfast Anyone?


When you awake at 5am 'cos the baby doesn't want to sleep anymore, jellybeans look like an appealing breakfast option...

Tuesday, January 4

PAD - January 4 - Imaginative Play


PAD - Jan 4 - Imaginative Play


(*all narrative that follows is courtesy of the 4 year old girl)

"Let me tell you a story Mum... We're having a Christmas Eve party and everybody is invited. We are going to travel to the party in the Christmas carriage (*cue Cinderella carriage to the right*)... and we need a tent (*cue wardrobe in the background*)... and everybody needs to sit around the campfire (*cue the wooden coffee table with the lamp*)... and now we are all cozy and warm and we need to sing happy birthday because it's Jesus' birthday... "

Gotta love 4 year old imaginations... it looks like a toy explosion but I love that she's combined all the little toy figurines she got for Christmas (wooden dolls, littlest pet shop, my little pony, polly pocket, cinderella, and sleeping beauty) and made them all part of the story...

Monday, January 3

PAD - January 3 - Rufflebum


PAD - January 3 - Rufflebum


The latest fashionable thing for little baby girls at the moment appears to be ruffled nappy covers. I have been itching to get one for Catherine because they are so adorable... but also because they are also practical... I discovered with Elizabeth that once little baby girls start crawling and trying to move, little dresses become rather impractical because they keep getting caught under them and hinder their movement. With a ruffled nappy cover, they can still move freely without being caught up in the girly ruffles. I have seen lots of different ones around the place and have been trying to score one from a boutique seller on madeit.com.au who sells the most gorgeous ruffled nappy covers with the most beautiful fabrics... However, after months of stalking this particular seller and being unable to secure one (her stuff sells out in minutes she is so popular!) I decided to take matters into my own hands (literally!) and have a go at sewing my own... (I believe Phan thought I was crazy when I told him I was making my own 'cos I couldn't purchase one!) I used the ruffled nappy cover pattern from Bettsy Kingston which I first saw on Leesa's blog a little while ago... so a big shout out and thanks to Leesa! :)

I'm mostly pleased with the result... It only took me a couple of hours (which I spread over two nights). A little fine tuning needed but nothing a bit of practise won't fix... and I think I might need to go the next size up 'cos Catherine is probably going to outgrow this size soon. I decided to make this with some cheapie fabric from Spotlight in case I stuffed it up, but now that I've had a trial run I'm ready to go off and purchase some nicer fancy material!

I also plan on making her a matching peasant top to go with her ruffly bum... but I've run out of red thread, so that will have to wait for the moment!

Sunday, January 2

PAD - January 2 - Too Darn Cute


PAD - Jan 2 - Too Darn Cute


Well I know I'm totally biased because I'm her mum... but really... how can you resist this little face?

I actually got a number of cute photos of Catherine today and had so much trouble deciding which one to use as my photo for the day... so I thought I'd also share this cute little series as well -


Little Miss Delightful


It's so much nicer being able to get shots of Catherine now that she is sitting by herself... she's been able to sit by herself for very short periods of time (like one minute!) since she was about 6 months (but was very prone to face planting into the floor), but in the last couple of days she's been much more stable... and whilst we still have to be nearby to catch her when she decides she's tired of sitting, she's able to sit now for quite long periods of time by herself (at a guess about 15 minutes at a time)...

Saturday, January 1

PAD - January 1 - What's A Girl To Wear To Bunnings?


PAD - Jan 1 - What's A Girl To Wear To Bunnings?


Not a particularly spectacular photo to kick off photo-a-day, but there is a funny little story behind this...

We needed to go to Bunnings today to pick up some things to do some maintenance around the house and also to pick up some more flowers for Elizabeth to plant in her big pots seeing as her pansies died while we were away in Adelaide for Christmas.

This is the outfit she chose to wear to Bunnings - It's been hanging in her wardrobe for a year, but today she saw it and decided that it was the perfect outfit. For those unfamiliar with this, it's an "ao dai" which is a traditional Vietnamese dress, similar to the Chinese cheong sam, but a little different... Generally they are reserved for special occassions like weddings and Vietnamese New Year... but apparently going to Bunnings rates as a special occasion with our four year old... :)

(We did get some very amused glances, smiles and comments regarding her outfit while we were at Bunnings too... She looked quite a little lady pushing around a kid-sized trolley with her Barbie doll in it... LOL...)

As a side note... Elizabeth was also very insistent on wanting to buy a pot plant to (in her words) "brighten up her room" while we were at Bunnings... She took quite a liking to a pink and white orchid, but it was rather expensive and I wasn't sure how long we could keep it alive, so she ended up going for a (cheaper!) pink anthurium and it's now proudly sitting on her bookshelf in her bedroom... She tells me she is going to remember to water it everyday.... This is definitely Ba Noi's influence coming through... Elizabeth must have liked all the gardening she did with her grandma while we were in Adelaide!

Photo A Day January 2011


Photo A Day January 2011 Starts


Regular followers of my blog will know that I have attempted the photo-a-day challenge for a month twice now, so I thought I would kick off the new year again doing this again... The main motiviation is to get my dear friend Mitch out and shooting with his 10-22mm which he got for his birthday in November, but to date has been untouched... (So you better be clicking away there Mitch!) But I've also roped in a few family and friends to keep me company again too... Anyone else who wants to join in, feel free, link me up to your blog/facebook whatever so I can see what you're up to... I will also be posting my daily photos into this flickr pool which has been organised by a group of girls in the EB photography forum - 2011 Photo A Day Challenge.

Stay tuned for a blog entry with today's pic... :)