"Choc or Treat"

This afternoon the Aunty Kirstie took the girls for their first Halloween experience. Mum and Dad have never really been a fan of Halloween, so the girls (although they don't know it) were lucky that Kirstie was so keen. They dressed up in their fairy (real scary) outfits and went up and down the street. They came back with chocolates, lollies and CASH! The girls think that you say "choc or treat" when you get to the front door. I guess they can't lose that way.

Unfortunately, Dad does not have the photos, just yet. Stay tuned.

Also, Chloe (the dog) has taken up lying on the trampoline whilst the girls bounce. She even appears to enjoy it. Isaac was around to play this afternoon as well. The girls are not girls when the he is around, although they do team up to be a quite decent rock-n-roll wrestling partnership.

Another Boring Weekend

Yesterday afternoon, Courtney complained that she had not done anything all day. Of course she forgot to mention making puppets, making cubby houses, picking roses, playing hide-n-seek, making music, painting, playing Playstation etc etc. The day was full of action however because all she wanted to do was ride her bike with Leighton, the day seemed very boring.


Courtney's puppet


Brooke's new smile


Painting

Brooke seemed to have a good time. At one stage she was pretending to be the King "..and you have to do what the King says, and the King says shutup" - Apparently Dad thinks he out ranks the King.

In other news, recently Brooke decided that it was time she finished off her toilet training. Fear not Aunty Jodie and Uncle Scott, it will happen one day - and it's great.

Dad returns

There has been very little (nothing) posted lately because Dad has been up North, visiting James, Cameron and Marcus. He'll put up some photos soon when the work computer starts playing the game.

In news of thecranegirls, Brooke has a new haircut which she is very happy with, although you wouldn't know it from the photograph.

A while ago now, the girls made (painted) Mum some flower pots and on Sunday they planted seeds together, watered them in and then put them out into the sunlight. Let's hope they are more successful than their effort with the vegi garden last year.

Chess

Tonight Courtney beat Dad in chess. Amazing watching her brain ticking over, developing strategies. She knows what each of the different pieces can do (most of the time), and she has invented a couple of new rules but the basics are there.

Courtney's message

Courtney wanted to send a message to her school and everyone

halo courtney heae i have chicken pox today is sunday it is 6 more day's until my chicken pox og away good bi to aii my friend's and teaeher's.

Seeing Spots again.

On Friday, CJ broke out in the first of her chicken pox. Hers are much worse than the mild dose that Brooke had, today we counted 101 (would you believe it) spots on her. She has a few really good/big ones as well, one of which is on her face. So far she has not been too itchy but that might be beacuse of all the creme and lotion that Mum bought.

Courtney's greatest concern is that she will not be going back to school this week. She is very upset, to the point of tears. Dad told her that she would have to miss the first week, he hopes that is the truth otherwise he'll be in trouble. We've had a very quiet weekend, staying indoors and away from other kids.

Leighton's comes to play

Today Leighton came over and played all day. Everyone was worn out, including Mum. He's a great little guy but Dad is worried by the amount of attention the girls pay to him.

Not the Royal Show

Today the girls went to a family picnic day put on by Dad's social club. It was fantastic and the girls had a ball. They had every ride that the girls would have gone on at the Royal Show without the cues (and cost)



They drove go-carts, went on dodge'em cars, bouncey castles, ferris wheels, pony rides etc as well as having face painting, ice creams and fairy floss. A huge day for them (and Mum and Dad) and they are still tucking into the lollies from the show bags.

As always Brooke wanted to do everything that Courtney was... including climbing to the top of a huge blow up slide. As the pictures show, Brookes reaction at the top was a bit different to CJ's and she had to be 'helped' down by one of the older kids.

There are a lot more photos on the other page

Aqua

Tonight Mum and Dad took the girls to AQUA. They both loved it. The girls went into the face painting room, Brooke wanted a horse or a pony but settled for a fish once she was told (several times) that the animal had to live underwater - a sea horse doesn't count, apparently.



The touch pool was a hit, as was the underwater tunnel but, as expected, Nemo (or any fish that looked like him) was the most favioute thing of the visit.

The Crane Shins

It appears that both of the Crane girls have inherited what it commonly known as "the Crane shins". Walk near a tow ball, lean against anything and they bruise. Hopefully for them, this will not continue later in life

BMX girl

This morning, the girls went back to the park to ride their bikes and fly the kite. As there had been a little rain over night, Courtney got to learn to coolest thing about riding a BMX, the rooster tail. She was very upset when Dad pointed out that she had mud flicked up her back from her rear wheel.



CJ did not want to get out of the car at the shops on the way home, she was so embarrassed that people would see the mud on her clothes and she was very relieved after Mum had been told and that, just like Dad said she would, Mum thought it was great.

First BMX session

Today was a big day. First Dad took the girls to buy new bike helmets, there wasn't much to choose from and Brooke insisting that she had the same (different colour) helmet as Courtney meant that hers is a little bigger than it should be.

After lunch we took the bikes down to the local BMX track where Courtney faces her first jumps, bumps and hills. We had a couple of minor stacks but nothing serious. She loved it.

Brooke on the other hand quickly worked out that having training wheels meant that it was impossible to keep the rear/drive wheel on the ground because all the other bikes had worn down the middle of the track and her training wheels were lifting her rear wheel off the ground.



Brooke ended up riding up and down the footpath. She would ride and ride, until she couldn't hear Dad yelling at her to come back anymore. Cheeky girl



We also tried flying the stunt kite again. It worked a lot better this time because there was more wind, maybe too much because we snapped the line each time. Both girls had a really good turn a flying the kite. Now they just have to learn not to chase the kite as it comes crashing to the ground.

Tonight Aunty Ned and Uncle Rob came to visit. The girls were by this time very tired and cranky. For a while, Brooke ended up in Rob's lap telling stories instead of having a bath.

Historical Moment

Today the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, told Australians that they could not ever expect the price of fuel to return below $1.00 per litre. Today the average in Perth is around $1.25.

Sizzler

Tonight we all caught up with Dave, Sharon, Ben and Cassie at Sizzler. The girls had a great night but completely wore themselves out. The girls were asleep in the car a couple of minutes into the trip home.

If, years from now, Courtney believes that all the water comes from angles tears, we'll know who to blame.

The Ballet

Today Grandma took Mum and the girls to the theatre to watch the ballet, Cinderella.

Although the show went for about three hours, the girls were very well behaved and they seem to have had a good time. It's been a long day and the girls are very tired so it might take a little while before we hear if they want to be ballerinas when they grow up.

The girls also enjoyed getting room service for their fish-n-chips for dinner, it looks like they like the concept of hotel rooms.

The long weekend

Grandma is in town and she came and spent the weekend with the girls. We are all starting to wonder about Brooke's chicken pox, after the initial breakout, there has not been too much action at all. She is not itchy, she has no spots on her face, in fact she only has about forty spots on her...



On Saturday, the girls played with Grandma whilst Dad watched the grand final. If history must know, the Syndey Swans defeated the West Coast Eagles by four points and neither of the girls are able to sit through a whole quarter of football.

After dinner on Saturday night, Courtney and Brooke treated Grandma to a special show where the girls sang songs, played the guitar and told stories. We loved the one (that went on and on and on) where Courtney was the narrator and Brooke followed the story with the actions.



Today, Grandma, Dad and the girls went to the markets and we ended up buying Mum some flowers, there really wasn't much to do there. The bonsai man says Dad is looking after his Fathers Day 2004 gift.

This afternoon Dad and the girls went down to the park and tried to fly a kite. There really was not enough wind and the dual hand stunt kite was a little hard for the girls to control, but they loved it. Looks like we'll be getting/making simple kites in the near future.





After the park, Brooke showed Grandma how well she could ballet dance, Grandma is taking Mum and the girls to see the Ballet (Cinderella) on Wednesday. and Mum came over for Chinese dinner. CJ is having a sleep over tonight but Brooke went home with Mum.

Chicken Pox

This site was created to answer, one day, all the questions that the girls might have in the future. Things like when did I? and where was I when?

Today Brooke broke out in Chicken Pox. We are guessing that she caught it a few weeks ago during a visit to the Mundy clan. Courtney is yet to show any signs however we don't think it'll be too long... Shhh, don't tell too many people. We don't want the parents of the thousand odd kids that went to the Wiggles on the weekend to find out.

Only Brooke could start a pandemic incident.

The Wiggles

Today Mum and Dad took the girls to see The Wiggles today. The girls were really pumped up, they couldn't wait, and then when we got there they didn't want to dance, clap hands or anything.

Brooke had a little go, Courtney sparked up every now and then but in general they watch it like it was television. A pretty good show all round. Although we were up near the back, the Wiggles left the stage and came running around the crowd.

Those boys are getting old.

In other news, Brooke has a sore tummy, most likely because she refuses to eat proper food. She is also finishing daycare in a couple of week, choosing to spend some more time with Mum before kindy starts next year. Brooke does not really like daycare.

School Assembly

Today Mum, Dad, Brooke, Nana Grandad all went to watch Courtney’s school assembly because she and her class were singing songs for the whole school and Courtney even got to speak into the microphone, asking the Principle to address the school.

Doesn’t she look sophisticated in her glasses?

Today the girls used MSN Messenger to talk to Cassie over the internet. Having the latest version on MSN and ADSL has made it really clear, both video and sound.



The girls were more interested in pulling faces but they did talk a little as well. We'll have to get all the family and friends onto this so we can keep in touch.