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.