Over the last week the girls have spent a bit of time with their cousins that are visiting from up north. James, Marcus and Lily have been keeping the girls busy, in particular Courtney who has taken to the role of being the eldest.

Happy Mothers Day

The girls made Mothers day special with some gift that they made at school and they made an effort to clean up some of their mess in the lounge room.

Last night the girls went to Dino Jims for a school fund raising event. Three hours of playing. Unfortunately Issac's little brother, Jaspar got hit in the head with a mini putt club and had to go to hospital. Good for the girls as Issac got to come over for a late night play.

Today the girls played, rode their bikes and then went to Bunnings to make some more Mothers Day presents.

This week Brooke has not been at school, she has a rash of some sorts. Her porcelin skin looks all dry and scaley like a lizard - but she is still beautiful. The Doctor has given her the green light to return to school but no real answers.

Courtney is trying to work out what she is doing for her schools talent quest in a few weeks time. It wil be interesting to see what she comes up with.

Something New

Yesterday the girls went with Mum and Isaac to theirs friends, Holly and Lachlan’s new farm. They went on a motorbike and drove a car, all the way around the farm. Brooke fed the llamas and the sheep. The girls helped make a big fire and they also but sticks onto a little camp fire. Courtney went in to the bush and Lachlan showed them a big rock slippery dip. Courtney got lost in the bush but she found her way out by looking for the smoke from the fire.

Last night the girls decided to take Crabbie (the hermit crab) out of his cage for some exercise. They promptly forgot all about him/her and 20 minutes later he had made his escape attempt into another room. CJ was very upset with herself that she had not taken responsibility for Crabbie.

Today the girls had a quiet day inside. They watched a video of when CJ was about 18 months old. It is amazing how long they can maintain their attention, walking themselves.

Okay - now for something new. Below is a video that we made today. For those of you still on dialup, it may take sometime to load up. You might need to click the play button a couple of times to get it going.

Courtney's Journal - Part IV

4 day When I woke up I opened the blindsand all I saw was fog. I have my breakfast and rode my Bike to the parK. At the parK I Looked at the raceing cars. Grandad pushed me on the flying-roundabout I went really fast I felt like I was flying. We came home for Lunch at about 12:00. I had Beef noodles. We watched a dvd and had a rest. My dad phoned. We whet to the hotel for dinner and whet to the fair. I saw all the car's fords, subaru's and a Toyota's. At the fair I got a golly fan. tomorrow I will go home. by Courtney

Courtney's Journal - Part III

3 day. it was a Lovely sunny morning so we all went out for a Bike ride. we wend Gone for about an hour. had an early lunch Then we went to play mini Golf. Granda won Brooke fed her icecream to the emu then we went to the unit and had bbq for tea.

Courtney's Journal - Part II

2 day I woke up and looked out my bedroom window and saw lots for clouds a while. We went out about 10:00am to a animal farm, Brooke and I got a bucket of carrots each, and we went off to feed the Guinea Pigs, Rabbits, Horse, alpaccas, Goats and sheep we had a ride on the Merry-go-round and Then it started to rain really heavy, So we ran to Shelter came back to the unit and had Lunch. then we weatched DVD as it was to wet to go out dad ranG and said chloe wes home form the vets she was ok.

Courtney's Journal - Part 1

Going on holidays. Today we left Perth at ten am. We watched Dvd's in the car. On the way it rained very heavy. We stopped and had lunch at a roadhouse. We got to Busselton at 1:30 pm we had to unpack the car. Nanna and Grandad took Brooke and me to play in the park we had fun. We went to the hotel for tea. I had fish and chips. by Courtney

Ready for Busselton

This weekend the girls spent most of their time playing at home, taking care of Chloe who is fairly ill at the moment. Last night they went to a BBQ birthday party where Courtney got to play Playstation with some older boys - she doesn't like Mortal Combat so much.



The girls' school holidays are not over yet. Next week the girls are off the Busselton with Nana and Grandad where they intend to ride their bikes and eat ice cream. The girls are really excited.

A 24 Hours Birthday

Today was Courtney's 8th Birthday. Instead of a party this year, she chose a slumber party with her "best friend", Katie. They had a great night an apparently fell asleep about 11:00pm.

Courtney was super lucky and had TWO birthday cakes.







During the day, CJ Chose to got the museum which she loves.





In other news, a couple of weeks ago the girls went to see Ivy's Western Australia Birds of Prey exhibit at Whiteman Park. They loved it.

WOW

CJ has been wanting a haircut for sometime so today Mum took her to the hairdressers for a new look, seeing as she is turning eight.

This is the striking results.







Tonight CJ has her friend Katie sleeping over for a little birthday party (of sorts). She has borrowed Dad's digital camera to record the night so it will be interesting to see the photos.

In other news, Chloe has been admitted to the vet clinic this evening. We are all looking forward to her making a speedy recovery.

Too Long Between Posts

It has been too long between updates – as a few of you have pointed out.

Not much has changed since Brooke’s birthday. In general, the girls have been busy playing and enjoying school holidays. Dad hasn't really had the camera out too much of late and it seems that we have not really been doing much except hanging around the house. There isn't oo much to report on that is different from day to day.

The big news of the last couple of weeks is that the youngest cranegirl, Mackenzie has been diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Level II. Obviously, all the adults have been a little off balance over the last few weeks. The girls, especially Courtney, just think that she is geogeous and they love playing with her.

Mum’s Birthday is today. Brooke took Dad shopping and she did a really good job at picking out a nice jacket for Mum’s present. We’re thinking of leaving Brooke in charge of more birthday shopping decisions... although initially she wanted to get a dress and jewels.

She's Back

The sweet, lovely little Brooke is back after a few weeks of her trying to boss Dad (and most other people) around. This weekend she has been full of cuddles and snuggles - A pleasant change.

Tomorrow Aunty Jodie, Cameron and Mackenzie arrive. The girls are really looking forward to it and are already planning a sleep over.

Brooke's Birthday Party

Today was Brooke’s birthday party, she turns five tomorrow. Brooke had six boys and six girls (and their siblings) come over for a couple of hours for games, lollies and cake.

This year Brooke ordered a “Celebration Castle” (the place were the My Little Ponies live) birthday cake and as always Mum was up most of the night, decorating. When Brooke saw the cake, she merely reminded Mum that there were curtains on the entrance to Celebration Castle.


As you can see, Mum soon made a set.

The birthday party also saw Aunty Kirstie’s debut as a child face painter.

She did a great job, but she didn't do this one.

All good parties need a couple of tears. Brooke had a minor melt down when her friends were all over her swinging chair and CJ (quite rightly) called for the ice when she found herself standing in exactly the wrong place when her friend served up the totem tennis ball.

In other news, yesterday CJ signed up for tutoring with Kip
McGrath to help her with her spelling and english. She is also using the Math Power program so she should be a genuis very soon.

A brief catch up.

Not a lot seems to be happening at the moment. The girls are busy every day but a lot of it is just general playing etc.

Courtney has started keyboard/piano lessons and she is also trying out Maths Power in an effort to get her a little more up to speed. For some reason "they"have changed the way that basic math is done at school so Mum and Dad were having a hard time keeping up.

Pa's Birthday

It's been a big week.

Wednesday was parent teacher night for Courtney's school. Courtney's new teach seems very nice and passionate. CJ was a little upset because there was not enough time to show Dad all the good work she has completed so far this year. Luckily, there was time the next morning.

Thursday night Uncle Brad spoilt the girls rotten and took them to Walking with Dinosaurs. The girls were impressed but as always, they have been unable (make that unwilling) to recall the night so we can report on it here. All they have told me is that they were big and you weren't allowed to touch.

Today was Pa's birthday and CJ helped Grandma make him a birthday pavlova.

A weekend sleep over

It's been a big week. CJ has found it a little hard to settle into the school year. Her new teacher is laying down a little bit of home work. It's not all bad and she is getting the hang of it.

This weekend Mum had a break down South so Chloe and the girls stayed with Grandma, Pa and Dad all weekend. They had a great time. Yesterday Brooke's friend had a birthday party and once again, CJ got to crash it. Although it was cold and raining, the pool party went okay.

Last night, out of the blue, Brooke said "Grandma, would you have enough monies to take us to walking with dinosaurs?" Grandma had to do some quick talking.

Brooke has taken to walking straight past Dad's room when she wants something at night time. She now walks to Grandma and Pa's room and flicks on the ceiling light to get their attention. 4:00am this morning, she was standing in the doorway of the lit room, asking for a drink.

What do you think?

Check out what Dave from BHM Photography has done with one of his latest shots of the girls.

The girls are somewhat settleing into the school year. Brooke claims to have had the "worse day of her life" today, she was bumped on the head and then someone stood on her fingers (not a scratch anywhere)

Courtney is having a harder time, she is finding math quite hard and feels the work load is building up. We're working together to get back on top.

Teacher's Pet

For some reason, Brooke has taken to giving Courtney's teacher a flower before school. We'll see if it helps either of them out. Apparently she "went all red" the first time.

The Wart

About a week or so ago, Courtney developed a little white spot on her foot. At first Dad thought it was a calcium deposit, a splinter or something. It since grew into a
Plantar Wart.

It doesn't hurt and Courntey's doctor has given her some cream to be put on every night. The photo above was taken tonight, so the cream has started to do it's work.

The hole in one

Today Dad, Pa and the girls went to The Maze. The girls got tired of the actual maze fairly quickly, mainly because it was fairly hot. The girls enjoyed looking at the emus, the kanagaroos and the koalas.

The biggest news of the day was Brooke's first ever hole in one on the mini golf. She was really happy with herself, and rightly so.

Back to School

The girls went back to school today and they were both wound up like little tops. Very excited. The girls are both happy with their teachers. Brooke has the same preschool teacher that Courtney had when she was there. Courtney has a new teacher but she tells us that she is very nice.

Brooke announced that school "wasn't very hard at all".

Brooke's teacher is taking her on a bus... but she can't remember why, where to or when. She is very excited.

Courtney is happy becuase her new teacher is going to give her three gold stars - just for filling in all the permission slips.

This weekend

This week the girls got to see McNaught's Comet in the evening sky over Perth. It was very impressve, a once in a life time event as this comet will never return to be seen from Earth again.



The girls had abusy day today. This morning we went to the Jones' farm where the girls got to see chickens, sheep, a horse and (best of all) three ponies. Both the girls had a bare back ride on one of the ponies. They didn't want to go home but they had to so they could attend a wedding this afternoon.



In other news, the girls have signed the inside of Dad's latest guitar.

Trip to Geraldton

Mum, Dad and the girls have not long returned from Geraldton. We had a great time visiting Rob, Ned and the kids. The girls loved the house with stairs and there was lots of games to play. We also went to the museum where the kids ran around madly with their assignments. We don't think that they actually saw anything other than the set task.

Woof Woof takes a bath

Today Woof Woof and Jolly bear took a bath. To be honest, Woof Woof was a little on the nose and needed a good wash. The girls filled the sink with warm water and added a little fabric softner, so as to give their best friends a bath.



Check out the colour of that water...

Happy Feet

The girls have been so very good lately that Dad treated them to a visit to the cinemas to watch Happy Feet. It was amazing to see Brooke laugh through the scary bits.

Happy Zoo Year

Tonight we all went to the Zoo for their Happy Zoo Year celebrations. The zoo opened up at 5:00pm for us and about 4,500 other people. To say the place was fairly packed, would be a little bit of an understatement.

We were able to wander around the zoo for a couple of hours and then the girls got to watch some circus performers and then the main attraction, the band Murphy's Lore.

The girls had a great time but they were a little disappointed that they could not get to see more of the animals. With so many people and so little time, there were always lots of people banked up at each display.

Can't keep up

So much has been happening lately. There have clearly not been enough updates but most of the blog readers are he in town and there first hand. Christmas is over and the girls are already counting down to the next one, and the Easter and birthdays in between.

James, Marcus and Lily have move out, Cameron and Mackenzie have moved in but the girls are house bound at the moment, pending them actually cleaning their bedrooms.



The girls have both enjoyed having a baby in the house, and they both feel like big ladies when they have a hold.





Since Christmas there has been lots of playing with the toys that Santa bought for everyone and lots of playing with the old toys. Brooke spent a couple of days out of favour with everyone when she announced to Grandma "I wish you were died" because Grandma was telling her what to do.

Recovery Day

Today (it appears) did not start very well. Brooke answered Grandma's phone call this morning with, "This is grumpy Brooke speaking, would you like to speak with grumpy Courtney?" It appears that the girls woke upon the wrong side of bed, CJ even questioned if Santa had been generous enough... That went down well.

It appears that it is not just thecranegirls that over did it yesterday. Marcus found a Boxing Day session on the Playstation this morning too much.



The girls spent the day getting away from the heat. They spent a good part of the day, waiting for it to get cool enough to go for a swim in the pool at Nana and Grandad's house.

Historical Moment

Australian cricketer, Shane Warne takes his 700th test cricket wicket. Also "the godfather of soul music" singer, James Brown dies.

Christmas Day

Christmas 2007 has been a wonderful day for the girls. Santa came to their house some time after 11:30pm (‘cause Brooke was awake up to that time) and delivered lots and lots of presents. The girls woke up about 6:00am and Mum managed to hold them off until about 7:00am before waking Dad.

After tearing open their presents at Mum’s house, it was over to Grandma’s house to open more presents with Marcus and James and then onto Nana’s for even more presents.

Courtney’s received (in part) an organ, a recorder, a Poke’mon game for her Gameboy and a new scooter. Brooke was given a Baby born, lots of ponies and her very own Gameboy, amongst other things. The girls were very spoilt by everyone.

After the present opening, it was back to Grandma’s for lunch and a sleep and then back over to Nana’s for a swim in the pool and Christmas dinner.

A christmas lunch

Today was the first time that the Crane girls and their cousins were all together in the one place. We had a christmas lunch of sorts, just a little early because we are all do busy on Christmas morning.

Happy Birthday Ben

Happy 18th Birthday Ben!

Family Holidays

The girls' cousins have arrived for a holiday and the girls couldn't be happier. We've all been to the park and the beach, we've played cricket in the front yard and even been out to see all the Christmas lights around the area.

All very tired kids tonight.

Baking a cake

Yesterday, the girls and Grandma made a cake as a surprise for Dad. To decorate the cake, the girls drew Dad's face in candy pieces on the top.



They had a great time making the cake, but not as much as when it came time to eat it.



Christmas is really starting to take up all the girls thoughts and along with the fact that the first of their cousins arrive tomorrow, they are in for a really intense week.

Reserved

This place is reserved for a photo of Cousin Cameron who lost his first tooth today, after a little assistance from a wall and a dentist.

The dog Beach

This afternoon the girls took Mum, Dad and Chloe to the beach. That poor old dog still has the mind to go bounding into the surf to chase the tennis ball. Her only problem is arthritis in her hips and a wide girth.



Brooke "accidentally" fell over in the surf a number of times.

A Message

Today Brooke and I are going to make Christmas decorations.