February 2014 Recap

*In an effort to remember our first year in Australia I will recap each month. January has already been done so I will begin with February 2014*

February was a great month filled with a lot of new adventures.

We visited the Melbourne Aquarium in the city.

It was fun to see advertisements downtown for the Super Bowl and still amazes me how expensive parking is.

The picture where the kids are standing on glass above a massive Croc still creeps me out.

The aquarium sits right next to the Yarra River with a lovely view.

Beaches were a frequent occurrence in February as it's one of the hotter months. This beach was Mordialloc Beach right near where Aaron catches the train into the city every day. There is nice shaded park near the beach, a beautiful pier and shops within walking distance.

Rachael had just started school for the first time the beginning of February. She was struggling and cried a bit at first. One day in particular I went to the market after school drop off and Joseph wanted to buy some flowers for Rachael to make her happy. He specifically picked these ones out. It was the sweetest thing that day as he presented them to her after school. She was happy!

Looking back at these pictures is such a bitter sweet feeling, Rebecca was so small.

I loved seeing Josh interact with her, they have a special connection.

One day just before Valentines Day we picked Aaron up from the train station after work and he presented Rach with some beautiful gerber daisies. I think she was feeling extra loved and knew we all supported her starting school.

The picture just below on the right is Joseph watching the washing machine while sitting on the toilet. We began potty training the beginning of 2014, I am so glad that is over and can't believe it has already been a year. He was sitting on his little toilet waiting for his monkey to finish washing. He sat there through the entire cycle.

School pictures and Joseph trying passionfruit for the first time. He really enjoyed it.
Sandra invited us over for dinner one evening, she really does spoil us. It was fun sitting outside together chatting and eating some of the best food.

We played a lot of games. Rachael is our Uno champion and Josh won his first game of Settlers (with some help;). 

I delighted in simple pleasures such as .60 cent watermelon and lunch at the shopping center while Rebecca and Seppe napped in the stroller. That doesn't happen anymore.

Pearls and Lillies from Aaron. I felt extra loved that day.

These two became very close friends and Josh was excited to have her at the same school as him. He does a good job of taking care of her. 

We were invited to an Aussie Engagement Party and a Kiwi (Kiwis are what we call the New Zealanders) birthday celebration. The Kiwi's cook their food in the ground, it's spectacular. Both were new and fun experiences.

Josh and Rach rode their bikes to school a couple times while I ran pushing Becca and Seppe in the stroller. It is much easier riding to school since Rachael is on two wheels and I have my own bike and trailer.

Super Bowl Sunday  (Monday for us), Aaron took work off and we watched the game at home. For lunch (at half time) we walked down to the end of our street to dine at The Nest Cafe over looking the lake. After lunch we resumed the game and Joseph went missing, we found him asleep under Rachael's bed.

We had a great time taking a day trip down to Queenscliff and celebrating Valentines Day in the city.
I also had a fun little photo shoot with Rebecca at 5 months old.

The New Year

We entered the new year with a bang. 

The evening began with some new friends, the Blyths and Proutings, and an Argentinean barbecue. The kids had fun running and playing all evening. We all barely made it to see the new year in with sparklers and fireworks. 

Sleeping in until 9am was a treat for everyone.

The kids decided to create their own spa and salon and treated Aaron and I to some nice foot rubs, head massages, back massages and Rachael did my hair. All while we watched some programs on sharks.

That afternoon we had the Bonnars over for a nice barbecue and games. We played boys vs girls at Cranium. The girls won !!

Valentines Day

After dropping kids off at school I headed into the city once again with Joseph and Rebecca. We met Aaron for lunch and ate at a Mexican Taqueria "Guzman y Gomez".  

Joseph had a lovely time eating the chips and pico de gallo while watching all the birds. It was a beautiful day to be in the city. Men walking everywhere with flowers and gifts in arms for their loved ones.

We took a walk 15 minutes south to the Yarra River. On our way we enjoyed watching some incredible street performers.

Once getting to the river we stayed only briefly. The flies were insane and pestering way too much so we turned back.

On our way back Seppi and Rebecca fell asleep so we stopped to indulge ourselves in a nutella and banana crepe. The crepe maker spoke French, I always enjoy hearing Aaron exchange a few words in the language :)

We explored the city a bit more and ended at Sensis where Aaron took us up to meet his co workers. 

It was a beautiful day out.

The rest of our weekend was filled with a new member baptism and stake conference. The talks and sessions were so uplifting and motivating. The best stake conference I have ever attended. 

Boxing Day

We decided last minute to take the kids and go see Frozen in the theaters. It came out on Boxing Day here in Australia and Rachael has been so excited to see it. 

The first showing of the day was at 9:15 am so that's the one we went to hoping to avoid crowds and loads of people.  We ended up being one of only a couple other families in the entire theater, and the only family with 4 young children. When we came out of the theater it was so crowded we went straight home to avoid the chaos.

Going out to the movies was very expensive. $21.50 per adult and $16.50 per child. We have since found out that we can get tickets for $10/pp through our internet provider. We did get a good deal on popcorn and a collectable frozen cup with slushies for each of the kids.

The movie was fantastic, we found ourselves talking about it all day. It was nice going to an early show as the kids are all early birds and much better behaved.
I was worried about Rebecca but she was great, she stayed awake and watched the entire movie. She loves music and the music in this movie is incredible.

As the movie ended Rachael asked if we could stay and watch it again, we all would have been happy to :)

We enjoyed a nice relaxing day at home after a good lunch and chats with family back home. 

The weather was a bit cooler today and very windy. We took the kids out on their bikes to a nearby park and then flew kites in the empty lots next to our house. Another beautiful day!!

Christmas Eve 2013

Aaron has been so busy with work lately, he even had to work from home on Christmas Eve. He worked hard all morning while I got some things done around the house and the kids played.

After a brief lunch we headed out with a couple gifts to deliver. We ended up stopping at the Oillataguerre's and spent some time there. The kids played with their chickens and helped hold them while Marcelo put bands on the chickens legs to identify each one. They even got to help name the chickens. 

From there we took some snacks to a nice large Bicentennial park in Chelsea. This park was huge and had some of the coolest things I've ever seen in a park. 
We ended up spending the remainder of the evening there.

Once arriving back home I realized I would not have time to make our big Christmas Eve dinner so instead I made our Christmas Day breakfast. We had cinnamon raisin french toast topped with strawberries, bacon and scrambled eggs. Mmmmm

We all sat and watched A Christmas Carol and then the kids were off into their beds squealing with excitement and tiredness…

It was a great evening and everyone was worn out by the end of the day. It's feels like summer has officially hit with these higher temperatures. It throws me off when I am hearing a neighbor mowing his lawn while I have Christmas music blaring inside the house.

Christmas Day in OZ

Aaron and I were woken up at 6:30 this morning to the sound of little feet running down the hall and lots of soft giggles.

The kids rooms are closer to the living room than ours so they got the first look before coming to get us. The excitement was radiating throughout the house, it was adorable.

All the presents were under the tree with 4 little stockings in front. As we gathered they began to open their stockings with excitement. They were so full of joy.

We pulled gifts from under the tree one by one and really enjoyed taking our time and opening the gifts slowly. Towards the end of the gifts we did face time with Grannie and Grancha so that they could watch the kids open the gifts they had gotten for them. It was wonderful.  After that we had a face time chat with Mama, Pops and the Suxo-Sanchez family. It was great!!

For breakfast we had fruit and muffins. I then went straight into baking our Christmas dinner while the kids played happily for hours.

Around 1:30 we sat down for our lovely Christmas ham dinner. Joseph had just fallen asleep on the couch and we couldn't wake him up, he joined us a bit later. 

The food was delicious but there was so much, Aaron and I kept eating until we nearly burst.

We took a quick break to settle our stomachs before clearing up and did face time with my parents, Steph, Scott, Shaylee and Carson. It was fun watching them open their gifts from us.

The rest of the evening we spent at the beach. It was BEAUTIFUL and nice and warm (in the 90s F). There was a very small breeze but the sea was as calm as could be. Kids splashed and played in the water for a couple hours with their new boogie boards before we left. I still can't believe that we got to spend our Christmas evening on the beach,it was such a neat experience.

Before we ended our day we enjoyed Apple pie and ice cream together. We missed having family around and doing our 'usual' traditions but we really had a wonderful Christmas this year. We have been so blessed! The day couldn't have gone any better and there was much joy and laughter that radiated throughout our house. That's all I ask for ;)

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!!

Decorating the Tree

We had pushed around the idea of making our own ornaments for the tree this year but didn't want to use food that may attract critters. I also don't have any of my usual crafting supplies so I would have to purchase more things just to do that.

When we went out to get lights for the tree (they are called fairy lights here) the kids found these cute sparkly pastel ornaments they wanted to use so we bought those. They were pretty cheap as well.

The kids had full control of decorating the tree this year, I just helped put the lights on. They had a blast doing it and did a great job. Aaron and Josh are dressed in sports attire because afterwards they ran to the chapel for sports night. They had an enjoyable time playing ping pong and basketball.