Curved Spine

Well Courtney's xrays are in. It appears that Dad has to start listening to CJ when she complains about her sore back... Needless to say, even the Chiro was a little taken back by the amount of curve in her spine.



No doubt about it - she is her mother's daughter.

Dad's been Lazy

Well Dad has been a bit lazy of late and obviously there have been very little in updates. News is Courtney has to go and have some xrays on her spine today, nothing serious, the Chiropractor just wants to get the full picutre.




On the weekend, CJ forgot to ride around the barriers at the end of a laneway. Her bike went underneath the barrier, her chest hit it, leaving her sitting on her backside - No serious physical harm done.

This week both the girls got a chance to show Mum and Dad around their classroom, showing off all the work they have completed this year. Both the girls are very proud of their efforts.

Dad went to Courtney's school yesterday to talk to all the kids - Scary.

School's back

Brooke is a little concened that Mum is going to send her to high school one day. That might explain why she refused to go to sleep tonight.

She is going to be tired tomorrow.

Cold, Wet and Windy

This weekend has been a fairly normal couple of days, considering that it is winter. The girls have fallen into a routine of going to Volleyball with Mum on a Friday night, soley because the creche is a kids gym, right across the road - They practically get the place to themselves. The girls like Volleyball.

On Saturday, they both went to Chelsea's birthday party and Brooke won musical bobs, which was surprising considering she is normally the first one out, not paying attention.

Saturday night Dad bribed the girls into sleeping over with a movie night. Today we made pencil boxes at Bunnings and the girls played with "beadies", little plastic beads that stick together when wet with water.

School goes back on Tuesday. It's been a pretty good school holiday albeit cold.

School Holidays

The girls have been on school holidays for the last couple of weeks. Aside from having had play dates with their friends from school, they caught up with the Mundy’s at Wild Kidz where Brooke got to drive the go karts for the very first time. There has been lots of visits to the park and hours of play in the back yard.

Yesterday they went to see the Fairies with Mum, which they thought was great.

Wet, Wild and Windy

Today the weather is shocking. Dad promised the girls that he would take them to a kids gym. We went to two different ones, ran through the rain each time only to find out that they were both full. Seems everyone else in Perth had come up with the same idea.

Still the day was not all lost - We made cubby houses in the bedroom.

Weekend gone

Another weekend gone. On Saturday the girls went to Josh's 4th birthday party. It was a pirate party and Brooke was pretty keen on being a pirate "wench". The girls had a great time and were pretty worn out by days end. They were amazed to find a bouncy castle set up in the back yard.

On Sunday it was cold and rainy so the girls stayed in for most of the day, they cuddled up on the couch and CJ read her sister a book.

Scoudidou

Over the weekend, Pa taught CJ how to scoudidou. She is now madly knotting away. Still keeps her off the computer and what not.



Here's a little blast from the past - this is just a small demonstration or Chloe's loyalty to the girls. No wonder they love her so much.

Bravery and Head Lice

Today Courtney performed in her schools Talent Assembly. For someone who can be a little shy, she was amazing. CJ and and two class mates sang a song in front of the whole school. Rightly so, she was very proud of herself.




Brooke couldn't go to school because - she has head lice. Appears that they are getting around school at the moment.

Scitech

On Saturday night the girls went to Scitech again - Dad had to work a little so the girls got let in a half hour early and they had the whole place to themselves. Brooke declares "This is the bestest place in the whole world"

Today the girls went to a patting farm with Uncle Brad, hopefully we'll have some photos soon

Whiteman Park

Today the girls went to Whiteman Park with their cousins, James and Marcus. After lunch they got to drive the cars, run amok in the playground and then a train ride.

After all that we caught up with Uncle Brad and Ivy at the birds of prey presentation where James and Marcus got to meet Auzzie the Eagle.

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.