Grace and the Prince Get Love - Video

I'm just going to get over my embarrassment and go ahead and post this. It's too cute. The girls had just gotten out of the tub and their hair wasn't combed. Brady had eaten what remained of her spaghetti dinner and had sauce on her chin. The house is a mess - but who would expect anything else. Anyhooo, here's Grace telling you about her wedding and Brady and Cole chiming in on their life. Click the pic to play the video.

Gracie and the Prince Get Love

For All You Red Sox Fans - CELEBRATE!!!

Our Sunday

102807

We didn't make it to mass today. I felt so guilty (I'll make the best Catholic). It was just that 8:00 am rolled around so quickly and I knew that I couldn't get the kids ready and looking presentable by the time we had to leave for 9:00 service. We could have gone at 11:00 but then they don't have children's church and the kids are antsy the whole time, making me crazy and Poppa cranky. So I decided we would have bible study at home. Well you know what they say about the road to hell. Instead we had a fun lazy day. Which I'm sure God will look at as quality family time and cut us some slack (we hope).

Jason wanted a new tattoo, but since we're saving money we decided on the home-made version. For any of you with little kids, this is a fun art project. Just make sure to use washable markers! Later the kids played outside with the neighbors in the water hose. They had a great time.



The boy to the right is Brady's boyfriend "Nick" (one of the twins from our neighborhood). Nick is a great kid and just loves Brady. He does nice things for her like making sure her watergun has enough water, opening her bags of chips, etc. Really, some of you grown men out there could take lessons. I was concerned about this hot and heavy hook-up until I asked Brady a couple of questions yesterday. I asked "Is Nick your boyfriend?", she said "Yes". I asked "What does it mean to be boyfriend and girlfriend?", she looked at me puzzled and had no answer. I figured we were safe.

Click on the pic of Jason for more photos.

Star Wars Meets the Dancing Diva

1st Halloween Pty

Our 1st Halloween Party (in case you're wondering - lots more pics will be coming from Halloween night - hosting a neighborhood party in our driveway). Brady is a dancing Bratz girl, Gracie is Princess Leia and Cole is Darth Vader. Brady hadn't had her hair done yet in some of the pictures, but she was still cute. It was a work party hosted at the work Community Liaison Office. There was face painting, games, a haunted house and costume contests. Gracie came in second in her age group. The kids had a blast as usual! Our day started with Cole's baseball game (they lost but boy did they play well) and the girl's gymnastics class. When we got home tonight, Gracie kept saying "It was a good day Mom". It was a great day!

Click the pic for more! Debbie - make sure to check out Darth Vader the Red Sox fan!

Opinion Poll

I'm taking a poll. Since Gracie has decided to repeatedly wet her pants over the past few days (I'm talking down to the bone wet - not a few dribbles), I'm considering threatening that she will not be allowed to turn 4 on her next birthday, she must stay 3 for another year.

Possibly Effective or Scar Her For Life? What's your opinion?

Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

You are looking at the illustrious "diamond fork". The most sought after utensil in the Cavanagh household. Wanted by both girls at each meal - and there is only one. Many tears have been shed and hearts broken over the use of this beautiful fork. It makes all things right and meals taste unbelievable when eaten with it.

Soon, though, Mommy will stab herself with said fork to put herself out of the misery of constant bickering over the little things. How will they feel about the diamond then?

New Pictures

Brady's School

Most of these were taken at Brady's school (Grace will be attending next year). It's a great place with lots of outdoor activities - and yes those are chickens you see running around. The kids help take care of them and they eat the eggs. Make sure you check out the ones with Jason and kids toward the end of the album. And, yes, Brady is half naked in the last picture - but the dress-up clothes that she did have on made her too cute to resist.

One Person's Cantelope...

is Rockmellon to the Australians and Camel-lope to Gracie.

What the Girls Do During Baseball

What the Girls Do

Check Brady out! Diva! This is a picture of the girls during one of the boy's baseball practices - they had the most fun. Believe me, it's hard to scrub a tub after a day like this! Click the pic for more. (Make sure to double click on a picture in the album for a large, close-up view)

Who's on First?

Baseball

The boys started baseball - first game was Saturday. They are the Eagles. They lost but had fun anyway. Cole got a hit and this is him on first base. Isn't he cute? Click on the picture for a few more - Cole is the one in the catchers get-up. Pop's co-coaching with other parents, and me...well I just walk around and act like I know what I'm doing. We'll get some closer up soon and maybe even one with the whole team. Thanks to Courtney for snapping these!

Walk On!

As many of you know, my Grandmother has Alzheimer's. There is a walk today (tonight in my case) benefiting the Alzheimer's Association. My mother, two of my Aunts and some other family and friends will be participating. Just wanted to put a shout out for good luck, don't let your legs buckle up and breath steady, in and out. I'll be thinking of you guys and wishing I were there with you!

I'm a Geek!

Ok, call me a geek. I'm so loving my blog. Check out my new description (under the title). Also, I added a link to Shelley's blog (down on the right under "favorite blogs"). Go girl!

It's Always Something

11:15 pm - Alice Springs time.

Hooray! We received our household goods today and that's it, no more shipments. What we have is what we're living with for the next few years. Everything else is in storage. So the house is a complete wreck. But Jason's really excited because his big, ugly, man recliner is here. You should have seen him sitting in it today - scratching himself. He didn't even seem to care that, because of the boxes, it's in the middle of the kitchen floor. He still sat there and read his book - scratching himself. And we were both pumped about getting our bed. You guys know the one. Our big king size, I-won't-touch-you-if-you-don't-touch-me bed. The one where the mattress is flipped to the wrong side of it's one-sidedness because it makes our backs feel better. Yeah, that's the one. Well, after spending the day carrying kids around and unloading boxes, I was so looking forward to my first good night's sleep in a while. Jason went to bed a little before me and when I came in to go to sleep...snoring. That's right and he was probably scratching himself in his sleep too. So, I push him and make him roll over on his side. Which works, but I still can't get to sleep for wondering where my curling irons are (they never seemed to turn up). So by the time I start to actually doze...more snoring. It's always something. Just thought I would get the bitching out of my system. Thanks for listening. Gonna try to get some sleep - let's hope I don't end up on the couch!

All About Poppa - And Our Love For Him.

Isn't he cute? Just in case any of you didn't know, Jason is here with us and doing fine. We don't purposely leave him out of the blog. It's just that I think so much about keeping you all up to date on the kids. And let's face it, I think so much about myself. Truly, I am having the most fun with this blog! So sometimes I forget about the man behind it all.

Jay is settling in at work very well and being very social (I'm so proud because we all know how tough that one is for him). He's been able to watch one Pat's game and will be watching the big one this weekend. The Red Sox have been on Fox Sports and he watched the game yesterday. He doesn't appear to be suffering too much from lack of American sports. He's been SuperDad watching the kids and he's been attending mass regularly (Gert would be proud).

We love that Poppa of ours! Post a comment for him to show him you care!

The Ladies Jim Jam Party!

Let me tell you about my weekend! Once again I found myself booked. That's right, the calendar was full. I'm penciling people and parties in for ease of quickly rearranging my schedule...maybe I should get a Blackberry...hmmm.

Anyway, Friday night I went the the ballet to see Heather (my wonderful neighbors 5 year old) dance as a Gingerbread boy in Hansel and Gretel, boy was she a cutie. Then last night, I went with friends to a grown-up ladies pajama party. It was a fundraiser for cancer research and man it was a blast. Hundreds of women running around in our jammies, drinking wine and dancing to music from the 70's and 80's. There were booths set up for manicures and pedicures, massages, lingerie, booze! It was the most fun!

Of course to go to a pajama party you must have new pajamas. And of course I had no one to go shopping with me so I couldn't make a decision. And of course we all know that when Angie can't make a decision she buys it all. Three pairs of jammies and some fuzzy slippers later....anyway, you get the picture. Above is me (as taken by Gracie because I feel too stupid going to Jason and saying "take a picture of me baby")the morning after. The cool thing about pajama parties where you drink too much wine is you can go home and fall straight into bed!!!!! (I looked much cuter last night)

Is he Hip or is it the Cha-Cha? You Decide.

School Uniform

School uniform pics as promised (a day late - sorry). Isn't he handsome? Tomorrow I'll try to remember to take ones of his "sports" uniform - way cuter. Brady's in there somewhere too.

School Uniform Photos

Will be posted sometime tomorrow.

Moms World - II The Night After the 1st Day

It's late again and I'm going on to bed instead of waiting up to call everyone, but I'm sure that all of you have been anxious to hear about the first day of school! Everything seems to have gone great! When I dropped Cole off at school this morning, we were both a nervous wreck! We went upstairs to the end of the top floor, room #11, Mrs. Hurley. Mrs Hurley was nice but seemingly no-nonsense. We got him settled, placed lunch and snack bags away and got him his desk (big kid desk now, none of those communal tables). All kids have a writing book that they use so he received that. He has a bit of catching up to do - the class is a combination 1st and 2nd grade level. I believe it is an attempt to get him up and ready for Year 2 as soon as possible. They seemed a bit more advanced in their writing skill and math level, but I was told not to worry and to let him settle in. In other words I was dismissed! Really wanted to smooch him before I left but was able to hold myself back. It made us both feel great that his neighborhood friends all saw us in the breezeway on the way to class and Hoo-Ray'd that he was in school. Such sweet boys. He was able to play with the twins during lunch and he said he met a couple of friends although he can't really remember their names. All in all, he was happy with his day!

The girls insisted on wearing their backpacks to Cole's school even though their classes didn't begin until noon. Grace almost didn't make it because a of a bad case of the fussies! She even said she wasn't feeling very well and she didn't want to go. When we went down to register and pay, she decided to stay. Although she insists that she missed me, I find it hard to believe, she seemed WAAAAY too happy to be there.

Brady was the most nervous of the three kids, afraid that she wouldn't make any friends. When we went in and got her settled she went out to play with the other kids and by the time I finished paying the fees she was in a happy zone with two new girlfriends. She was so excited when we picked her up, saying she got to paint and she met every kid in the school (which by the way is about 15 kids).

So school was a success! The only problem we had throughout the day I think was due to dehydration. The kids seemed to be fussy and cranky until they got a Gatorade in them after school. We have to drink more water - Cole will take a bottle to class tomorrow to drink during the day.

Anyway, thanks for thinking of the kids! And for those of you with more confidence in how the kids would do, who thought more of me and my nervous belly - I feel much better now!
Love to all!
A

Moms World

Hey there everyone! It's almost 10:00 pm here on the other side of the world and I figured instead of possibly waking someone up to call and talk, I could just talk to you all right here! I'm a bit stressed tonight. Tomorrow is the big day...school is starting. To all you parents with grown kids - hats off! How crazy is it that I'm more stressed than they are? I worry that they won't make any friends or that they'll get lost. I stress that they'll come home crying and hating life in Australia. I even called my neighbors tonight to find out what other kids pack for snacks. I guess that's so their snack will fit in with the others - insane! It's quite nerve racking though. I'm sure all will go well. After all, who doesn't love my kids - haha!

We had our first swim lesson today. Gracie's class was great, although she was a bit more advanced than the others (the cross they bear). Cole and Brady were in a class with about 12 other kids and it was total chaos. But you would all be proud of me, I voiced my concerns about the class size (any one of you who knows me well knows I'm not always the best about voicing my concerns). Anyhoo, the lady who coordinates it trampled right back over me and persuaded me to give it a couple of more weeks for everyone to get in the swing of things(I said OK because we all know I'm weak). So we'll give it a couple of more weeks and see where it goes.

Thursday starts baseball and I think Cole is the youngest on the team. (Yet another thing for me to stress about). Everyone keep your fingers crossed that he will do well! Games are on Saturday morning at 8:00 am and the girls will be in gymnastics every Sat. at 9:00 am. Aren't we the busy family?

Speaking of busy, I've been quite the socialite. I went out with the girls Saturday night and danced until I almost blew out my bad knee! That would have been bad since Lindy's not close by to come to my rescue (just saying what you're thinking Mom :-))! Then Sunday I played Tripoli (very fun game by the way) with another group of ladies - and I think I'm in for the monthly. I've also already been invited to a couple of other parties. Am I just the lady to be around or what!!?? Hahaha! Jason may soon regret this move.

On that note, my busy weekend has made for a really tired Momma. Everyone say a short prayer for the kids tomorrow!
Love to all!
A

How much can 8 kids eat?

Kids

1 Lg Pizza - 1/2 Pepp 1/2 Cheese
6 Jumbo Hotdogs
8 Cheese Sticks
1 Lg Bag of Chips
6 Jelly Sandwiches
2 Butter Sandwiches

And that's just for lunch. This is one of the many reasons I stopped at three. Check out the other pics of the kids at play.

The Kids' "College" and Tuck Shop

This is a picture of OLSH (the kids' new school) taken from the top of Anzac Hill. I thought everyone might want to see how different the campus is. It's cool actually. Access to the classrooms, computer lab, library, etc. is all outside (the teal doors opening onto the breezeway). Under the long center awning there is a rolling window to the canteen (aka the Tuck Shop). It looks the same as the rolling window of the concession stand at your little league ball parks. In fact, the Tuck Shop is pretty much our concession stand, except in Australia, the menu changes on a daily basis and the kids purchase their lunch there. They eat lunch and snack outside in the courtyard. If they bring their lunch and snack, they must be in two separate bags and they are kept in the cooler of the canteen. All classes eat lunch at the same time. This campus is known as the "Bath Street Campus" and houses grades Transition (Kindergarten) through Year 4.

The Girls

The Girls

Check out these photos of the girls being girls! A couple of our wonderful grown-up neighbors at the end.

The Reptile Center

Sunday we finally made it to the Reptile Center. It's was great and the kids loved it. The funny thing was that the lizards, and such, seemed to be eying us as much as we were eying them. Look closely at the photos (hard to see on some because of the glare from the glass enclosures) - they're posing with the kids!

Reptile Center

Mary of the Heavens

Mary of the Heavens

OK, when Brady walked in with this get-up declaring that she was "Mary of the Heavens" we thought it was about time we headed on to church. So Sunday, we just barely made it to the 11:00 mass, sitting in the back to avoid causing too much commotion (we knew the kids would get antsy). It wasn't, however, far enough away to keep people from hearing Grace ask "Is that God?" when the priest walked in. Now, some of you may recall that this is the EXACT thing that happened when my friend Teresa took Brady to mass with her over the summer in Columbus. It's a sure sign that we need to have our rears in a pew a little more often!!!! (Oh, Grace tried to anoint herself with holy water when we were leaving - classic!)

Check out the above album for a few pics of the Cavanagh kids just fooling around. They love to take pictures with Mom's camera.