The Cunninghams

First day of school - 2011/2012

2011-08-11T14:00:00.001-07:00

Aren't they gorgeous!!? They really shot up this summer and look so very tall and skinny all of a sudden!

We're in a new school district now and they are on a 4 day school week. So far we're loving what basically amounts to a 3 day weekend every week! The flip side is more homework and a little more advanced lessons than our previous school district, all things that in my book are quite positive. Oh - and hooray for school uniform.

The kids also love their new school!

A quick update

2011-03-21T08:05:00.001-07:00

So far this year we have moved house, I have completed a third of my training towards a brand new career and the kids have grown a few inches each. Being a full-time student, a wife and mom, I haven't had any spare time for blogging, trying out lots of new recipes or exercising. Due to the kids' school schedules I have to take some time off and focus on them, so hopefully I'll have more time for other things!!

NYX - Champagne and Caviar

2010-12-11T08:20:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting the Urban Decay Naked palette for a while, but it is so popular UD are having supply issues and it's very hard to find in stores. NYX do a palette called Champagne and Caviar that has similar colors. For $9.99 it seemed like a good deal.

The shadows are just lovely, nothing too daring but lots of very useful colors. I was a tad disappointed at the matte colors as they didn't seem quite as pigmented as the shimmers and satins and felt a little chalky. Not all of the shades are blow-you-away pigmented but you don't always want full on color, sometimes you just want blending colors and neutrals.

All of the shadows benefit from being applied on top of an eyeshadow primer, particularly the matte shadows - difinitely the pure black and white. The swatches to the left are on top of ELF mineral eye shadow primer. The swatches to the right are on bare skin.

Another noteworthy feature is that the mirror is the same size as the entire compact - no squinting in teeny mirrors here - BIG plus. The palette is compact but you get a decent amount of each shadow, 14g total.

I can't wait to create a look for you. I think these shadows will combine really well with the jumbo eye pencils as a base.

NYX Cosmetics - Jumbo eye pencils

2010-12-10T14:56:00.000-08:00

Having heard and read (and seen on YouTube) all about NYX, I was eager to try them out. I'm not a fan of shopping online as you can't touch or swatch the products so when I found out that my local Ulta store (www.ulta.com) stock NYX I was excited to go shopping. I started out with two (Milk and Cottage Cheese) so I could see if I liked the product.

Despite the names -I mean who wants to put cottage cheese on their eyes? eww - I just loved them. They are very creamy. They glide on smoothly and don't drag the delicate eye area at all.

Milk is a very opaque white and Cottage Cheese is a lovely iridescent white, perfect for highlighting the inner corner of the eye, giving that nice wide awake look.

Happy with the formula I went back for more... I bought Pure Gold, exactly what the name states; French Fries, a luscious bronze to use as a base for my favorite Urban Decay eyeshadow Smog; Black Bean, an intense black; and Rocky Mountain Green, a shade I don't really need but it was just so PRETTY!

I don't know how well the black will do as an eyeliner as it's very big and you might be able to see on the photo that it bleeds a little (click the photo to enlarge). I plan on mostly using them as a base for eye shadows, they make it last so much longer than normal primers and they boost the color really well. At around $4 a pop, they are a very affordable, versatile product that I use a lot and will definitely repurchase.

A little makeup review

2010-12-10T14:49:00.000-08:00

So anyone that knows me, knows that I love makeup! Shallow as it may be, I just love all the amazing colors and the satisfaction of leaving something looking better than I found it. I'm not good at drawing or painting but makeup allows me to be a little creative without all of the raw talent!

Anyway, I was shopping at my local Ulta yesterday and realised that I keep going back to certain brands. I don't like to spend a lot of money on products so I try to search out the best value and the brands that offer a bang for my stay-at-home mom buck.

So in the next few days I'll be reviewing my top picks from specific brands that are very affordable. I hope you find it useful.

Cheeky Beauty's amazing giveaway

2010-12-01T15:22:00.000-08:00

My friend Stina has an amazing beauty blog. She frequently updates with helpful makeup, beauty and product reviews and includes lots of stunning photos (it helps that she's gorgeous!) Right now she is generously giving away some lovely products. Please check out her blog!

http://sweetcheeksramblings.blogspot.com/

Awkward silences

2010-11-24T11:43:00.000-08:00

You know when someone emails you and you forget to reply and the longer you leave it, the more awkward it is to send? You feel silly for not sending it, so you just don't send it at all and then in a few months you send a random email pretending that nothing happened and that you didn't go silent for a while? No? Well anyway.....

I bought a new purse on Sunday. It's very pretty. See?

First day of school

2010-09-09T16:50:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, they're totally overdue - first day of school was a month ago. Sorry!

Max is now a first grader (actually he turned 7 today and I swear he seems taller overnight) and Lily is a brand new pre-K student! Max is so happy with his teacher, she has been teaching for 27 years and seems to have it all down. Homework is scheduled a month in advance and perfect peace reigns in her classroom - HOORAY for Mrs. Tyson!

Lily has a friend (Lucille) who rides with us to and from school every day. They are not in the same class but are happy to be at the same school nonetheless. Unfortunately Max's school doesn't have a pre-K program but the two schools are less than 2 miles apart. A typical Lily-ism "Mommy, I thought you said I would go to school to learn. Mostly we just play and eat." I pity her poor Kindergarten teacher if she doesn't learn fast enough.......

She doesn't look too thrilled in this photo but it's her "posing-hurry-up-and-take-the-photo-smile"

See?

But she really was happy, I promise:

Back in the groove!

2010-09-09T16:47:00.000-07:00

There has been a LOT going on since I last posted. The trip to DC took a lot out of all of us, especially considering that we got home late Sunday night, had open house at both of the kids' schools on Monday morning and then had first day of school on Tuesday! I'll be posting the first day photos - albeit very VERY late - later on tonight.

Now that we're into a good routine and the children have recovered from the inevitable germs they brought home from the first few weeks of school, business should be resuming shortly :)

DC trip - day 1

2010-08-06T14:59:00.000-07:00

After a long, long drive (split into two parts) we were very happy to arrive safely in the country's capital. We spent the first few days at the Hilton Alexandria. On our first morning we decided to have a little adventure and take the metro into the city. We'd read that the metro is very clean and safe and the children have never taken the subway before. They LOVED it. We took it all they way to the mall - destination: the Smithsonian museums. We had initially planned to visit two that day but it was hot hot hot, the hottest day of the year so far.

We arrived at the Museum of Natural History to a packed house. It seemed like there were boy scouts everywhere! The children loved seeing all of the stuffed animals, the massive dinosaurs and the Hope diamond, the highlight definitely being the dinosaurs.

We were advised by a friendly lady that the best (and much much cheaper) place to eat was at the Old Post Office with its clock tower on Pennsylvania Avenue. So down the street we trudged only to run into a huge parade. It was the 100th anniversary of boy scouts - which explains why we saw them everywhere, over 10,000 of them! The old post office was such a beautiful building and a good place to get lunch and cool off.

After walking back to the mall (which is actually not a mall for my European readers), it was so very hot and we were all exhausted, so we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel to swim. After working up an appetite, we ate dinner at the Bombay Curry Company. Totally delicious and well worth a visit for great, authentic Indian food.

Washington DC

2010-07-30T08:14:00.000-07:00

We've been in DC now for a few days - we've been having a blast. I can't wait to post lots of photos, watch this space!

Hotter than ever

2010-06-27T19:50:00.000-07:00

Since the last post it's just gotten hotter. And hotter. Todays heat index was 118F GASP!!!! How on earth do you deal with that? I just can't imagine a world where poeple can walk and talk and work in that kind of heat. But somehow they do. I don't. I dream of cooler climates. With oceans and breezes. I miss the ocean. A lot.

Forgive me, it's hot

2010-06-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

It is HOT in Georgia right now. It has been over 100F for several days now. There was a heat index of 115F today. It's like a furnace. And joy of joys, our air conditioning unit has chosen this time to die - the thermostat in my hallway has hit 90F. So please forgive me, I don't have the energy to type, upload photos, cook, play, craft or do anything that involves movement.

My nemesis - baking

2010-06-03T16:14:00.000-07:00

It's sort of a standing joke in our house. I am a good cook, but give me a recipe that involves flour and baking powder and it always ends up with me in a destroyed kitchen and usually ends up with tears and take out.

My sister is a fantastic baker. She is patient and she measures things - apparently very handy skills to have if you want to make dessert. I am a bit-of-this-dash-of-that cook and I usually make at least 5 or 6 substitutions in a recipe. My very first attempt at baking a cake was a brick. (Horst, wherever you are, sorry for that stomach ache I gave you because you were too polite to spit it out. True story).

Anyway, we buy fresh, organic produce from our local CSA - Community Supported Agriculture - and this week we bought a case of fresh picked Georgia peaches. There are only so many peaches you can eat before the fruit flies decide to move in and they need to be used up PRONTO. So I decide that I need to make a peach cobbler. We are not dessert people, we very rarely eat it but Tim does like a peach cobbler.

Any recipe that starts with "4lbs of peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced" is deceptive. Horribly deceptive. It took me the better part of two hours to peel the slippery things despite blanching and shocking them. I should have given up at that point but the dry ingredients had already been mixed and the butter softening. Another note to self - don't soften the butter when you are making a crumble topping. It makes it sticky. As in it sticks to your fingers. A lot.

So now my kitchen is a mess, dinner hasn't been made, I have eaten gobs of buttery dough off my fingers that I'm pretty sure aren't in my calorie allowance for the day and I haven't got time to go for my evening jog. All I want to do is sit down and have an ice cold beer. And perhaps shed a little tear or two all over my chinese take out food.

Edit: it looks edible and it got a thumbs up from Tim. And the chinese food and beer was great!

Exhausted but happy!

2010-05-20T17:22:00.001-07:00

Is there any better feeling than spending a day in the sunshine and playing hard, only to come home and feel down-to-the-bone tiredness and a big smile on your face?

Today Max had a half day of school (tomorrow is his very last day of Kindergarten) and then we put our swimsuits on and headed out to a friends' house for a end of school party! We splashed around, threw water balloons, ate pizza, cake and ice cream. We jumped on trampolines and danced silly dances. After all the fun, excitement and sugar we came home and crashed. I bet we will all sleep well tonight.

Tomorrow we're going to give the teachers some well-deserved presents. This year Max's teacher has worked very hard to bring him out of his shell. She could tell right away that Max doesn't like loud noises, being put on the spot and that he needs encouragement more than criticism and adapted to his needs. Now he's a confident little boy who loves to read and who has even taken books to school to read to his whole class. Thank you Mrs. Benson, you rock!

Crafty Kick

2010-05-08T12:52:00.000-07:00

I have a frustrated creative person trapped inside my body and lately, she has been wanting to come out! I saw some cute little 4 inch tall coke glasses a few weeks ago and bought them on a whim. I remembered that I had some candle making things left over from a previous project (tea cup candles) and combined with some of the kids' leftover crayons, this is what I came up with

A little coke/rootbeer float vanilla scented candle. I made another batch this week that turned out a little better but of course I forgot to take photos before I gave them away.

I always wanted to learn how to crochet too, but with Mum living so far away I turned to YouTube! I found some free patterns online and then just watch instructional videos on how to do each stitch. Last year I made a few scarves and a very misshapen hat for my poor sister (sorry Nik!) and kind of got put off. But with baby showers looming I tried again and found a great pattern that comes together really quickly - using two strands at once, making a nice quilt-like blanket. Here's one that I just finished for a friend's baby shower this weekend

The finished blanket is about 3x3 ft. It's the first time I've made a flower too! My friend isn't sure if she's having a boy or a girl so the flower is just pinned on for now - just in case. Another blanket is in the works and this time I'd like to do a scalloped edge on the hat too. Any crocheting experts - please leave your top tips and links to beginner patterns below!!

11 years ago

2010-05-08T12:43:00.000-07:00

11 years ago today, I was standing in a beautiful garden, with the sun on my face, birds singing and my heart was filled with joy.

We looked so young!

It's been a beautiful, fun and satisfying 11 years and I am happier than ever. Thank you my love.

This week in short

2010-05-02T16:28:00.000-07:00

Tim went on a business trip to a convention in Vegas. Usually when he goes away for a few days I like to do some extra fun things with the kids to make up for Daddy being away. My plans got slowed down for a few days by some bad chinese food but on Thursday after picking up Max from school I was feeling better. We decided to go straight from school, get some good Mexican food and go to the movie theater - on a school night! Some things are just better when they're on a whim. We watched How to Train Your Dragon in 3D. Simply put it was awesome! A really great movie, not too scary for little ones, they just loved it.

Yesterday Daddy came home, loaded with free swag from the convention. Boy was he missed! Now we are all back under one roof and all is right with the world again.

When it's raining outside..

2010-04-15T08:23:00.001-07:00

.. and the children are really bored - what do you do? If you've been watching YouTube makeup videos, you break out the makeup of course! I had been watching a video by the brilliant Sam of Pixiwoo do a futuristic look using stickers and eyeshadows. I tried it out on my hand and sure enough, the kids thought it was great and wanted it done on their faces too. They were very happy with the results and I think on the next rainy day we might try it again and create some all-over looks.

Family time!

2010-04-12T07:19:00.000-07:00

Our week off was such a relaxing time. My in-laws live in California so it isn't very often that we all get to spend time together. We spent most of the week at my sister-in-law's home, the house where she and Tim grew up. His uncles and aunts live close by and the children had a great time visiting everyone, fishing at the pond, feeding the animals and just exploring.

Max impressed us all with his patience when he went fishing at the pond, standing very still and being quiet. He kept casting his line over and over again without getting frustrated. It paid off when he caught a bass!

Lily adores chickens (as you probably know from previous posts!) and hunting for their eggs. She laughed out loud every time we walked down the driveway and all the chickens would run along side us. Yesterday she and Tim went to the hardware store and saw some baby chicks - she couldn't stop talking about them. We can't wait to have chickens of our own some time in the future. Here she is with her haul.

She was so proud of the "jumbo egg." The next morning when she insisted on making scrambled eggs for everyone she cracked the jumbo egg and found that it was a double yolker! Thanks for breakfast sweetheart.

Noah's Ark

2010-04-12T06:57:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago Max had his spring break. Tim also took the week off so that we could all enjoy it together. His parents were also visiting and we had so much fun just playing in the gorgeous sunshine we've been having.

We went to Noah's Ark, a fantastic animal rehabilitation center. My favorite animals were the giant tortoises and the enormous buffalo, Max liked the monkies and Lily was rather taken with the peacocks that wandered around. I was hoping to find a peacock feather but we hadn't realised it was good Friday and the park was packed.

They have a lion, a tiger and a bear that have all been raised from cubs at the rescue center. They all live in the same enclosure and share a house. Unfortunately it was a very hot day and the clever animals decided to either stay inside or take shelter from the sun under the house. I can't say I blame them! Still, the bear was quite funny, lying splayed out on the porch, turning around to try and catch a breeze.

It really is a wonderful place to visit. It's so nice to see all the animals together in one place, with plenty of room to roam around. It gives us a wonderful glimpse of what the future will be like. Isaiah 11:6-9.

When brilliant parenting ideas don't work...

2010-04-03T08:09:00.001-07:00

When you have picky eaters you try all kinds of sneaky things to make them try new food. When I say picky, we are fortunate enough to have two children who love raw fruits and vegetables - so it could be worse - but they are not too keen on trying new things or anything cooked for that matter. My mom bought us a kids' cook book, full of fun ideas and appealing photos. I let the children choose a recipe and they were very excited about cooking their own supper.

They chose a recipe for fish/mashed potato croquettes. They cooked and flaked the fish, made the mash, formed the patties into fun shapes (dinosaur, heart, fish and a cake to be exact). I breaded and fried them and well, that was as fun as it got. After swearing up and down that they would eat every last bite, they barely nibbled the crispy edge and declared that altough it was nice they really didn't want to eat it. In other words, we think it's gross but we enjoyed cooking.

So reverse psychology doesn't always work out but at least we had a blast in the kitchen and hopefully the love of cooking will stick.

Max's school project

2010-03-26T17:49:00.000-07:00

Last week Max turned in his 9 week project. The theme was American Symbols. Short of baking an apple pie, what is more American than the Golden Gate Bridge? Tim found some online kits - you just punch out the perforated parts, score and fold. Max did all the punching, glueing and he decorated the whole board with paint, glue and sand. He learned 6 facts about the bridge and was incredibly proud (and rightly so!) of the final product.

His teacher was so pleased with his project that it is now on display in the school library. Way to go Max! We love you buddy.

Cherry Blossoms!

2010-03-26T17:38:00.000-07:00

The Cherry Blossom festival is here! and the trees are cooperating beautifully, they are peaking just in time for the final weekend of the festival. I don't know if it's because of the long, cold winter we've had but I can't remember the trees ever blooming so profusely. They are simply stunning. Here are a few photos I took this week. My favorite is the tree that has all three shades on the same tree, white, pink and fuchsia. (Barbara, I know you missed them so these are for you, hope you're settling into your beautiful new house).

I'm here, I promise!

2010-03-12T17:39:00.000-08:00

Lily has been sick for a week and half. It makes my heart bleed when she's so ill and yet manages to be the sweetest girl on the face of the earth. She really is my sunshine.

Still, it has thrown a wrench in the works of what was supposed to be a fantastic and fun week. Hopefully we'll both be able to enjoy the weekend and get some photos of all the gorgeousness that is happening with all the (torrential!) rain we've had this week, the trees are going nuts!

Spring IS here

2010-03-04T16:10:00.000-08:00

Despite a few false starts (including sleet and snow on Tuesday), it looks like Spring really is here after all! We've got some daffodils in the garden and all the Japanese tulips have big buds on them. Tim says he's seen some cherry trees in bloom too! Here's a little photo I snapped with my phone on the way out the door this morning - it made me smile.

Read me, you will

2010-03-01T16:58:00.000-08:00

Lily is a comedian. Of the very funny, 4 year old variety.

Today she held up a piece of candy shaped like Yoda and announced "Make your teeth rot it will. Hmmm"

Just one of the 1,000,000 reasons that I love her.

My new friend

2010-02-25T09:47:00.001-08:00

(On a side note about my last post..... Spring is most definitely NOT here! We had sleet yesterday and right now we are FREEZING. Hurrumph)

I mentioned before that a new friend was blogging with me. My lovely husband surprised me with a present at the end of last year. Here is my baby:

And because he knows I love all things pink and girly he also bought a vinyl decal to cover up the blue :)

It was getting to be a bit of a struggle to fight for computer time between himself doing work and the children playing games. And isn't it funny how the best wireless connection in the house seems to be in my bed where it's warm and cosy?! I love my netbook and couldn't do without it now. Hooray for just-because surprise presents and lovely, thoughtful husbands!

Spring is here?

2010-02-20T16:20:00.001-08:00

Last week it was snowing and today we were out in the yard in the sunshine in short sleeves! Is spring here? It was a beautiful day either way. We had lots of fun with bubbles and Tim caught it on his phone.

Soaking up the sunshine!

The next day...

2010-02-20T15:33:00.001-08:00

day two of our snow day was so much fun! we got up early and went down to the high school by our house and spent some time sledding. The snow was so wet that it was easier to slide down the letters on the hill. We went home to warm up with hot cocoa and went out for round 2!

Lily made a snow lady and then decided she needed a snow husband too. So sweet.

It was so beautiful but I lived in Sweden for too long to want it for more that two days!!

It's SNOWING!!

2010-02-12T18:09:00.000-08:00

in Georgia! I can count on one hand the times it's snowed in the last 10 years. It's exciting and we had so much fun today after Tim came home early from work. These photos were taken early on but we have at least 3 inches so far and we're hoping to wake up and find it still there so we can play in it some more!

Today it snowed in all 50 states in one day - yes, even Hawaii and Florida. Brrrr.

The last two months.....

2010-02-12T17:58:00.001-08:00

in short - my parents came to visit, we had lots of fun, did lots of shopping. Max went back to school, we've all had colds (bonus of Max going back to school! yay) and I got all my hair cut off. Literally, ALL of it. Tim and I now get our hair cut every month and use the same products because it's about the same length! I love it though, it's so easy to take care of and quite chic apparently.

Max is doing really really well at his reading! He adores the fabulous, award winning Mo Willems series about Elephant and Piggie and is able to read them by himself with very little help. It's boosted his confidence no end and he has a new interest in reading. In fact, he took one of the books to school to read to his teacher and got a certificate for Action and Alertness (as well as winning dancer of the month, we still have no idea why!) Go Max!! Here he is reading one of the books to his aunt and uncle

I love that boy!!!!!! We're proud of you buddy.

Bad Blogger

2010-01-29T20:11:00.000-08:00

Bad, lazy, unmotivated blogger. There is a lot to share and there are a lot of photos to come. I just have to put it all together. It is supposed to rain this weekend. Hopefully that means that my new friend and I will get some time to blog. See you soon!

Vegas baby!

2009-12-18T20:39:00.000-08:00

Las Vegas. Tacky, noisy, crowded with people bent on losing all their money in casinos. Those are the first things that spring to mind - and guess what? it's all true. But there's a lot more to it than what we were expecting.

We stayed at the newer end of the strip, at the Luxor, the pyramid shaped, Egyptian themed hotel. Since we arrived mid-week it was very quiet, not crowded at all. The casino at that hotel is very small which helped cut down on the crowds. There were a few exhibits going on and they had a deal where you could visit 3 of them for $54 which was very good value when you consider that they're usually $30+ each.

We chose to visit the Bodies exhibit since it was at the Luxor. It was extaordinary. They have developed a method of inejcting specific organs, veins, arteries, tendons, muscles etc with a preserving chemical and then they dissolve the other tissues thus isolating what they want to keep. The result is a little erie at first, realising that the statue in front of you used to be a living breathing human being. Once you get over that, it is an amazing thing to look at. It left us with a profound appreciation for how amazing our bodies are and all the wisdom our creator demonstrated when he made us (Psalm 139:14) I think anyone with any sort of medical background should take the chance to visit one of these exhibits (there is currently one in Atlanta).

We also chose to do an interactive CSI exhibit. They basically show you a "crime scene" and you have to do different forensic tests to solve the crime. It was a great idea and the labs were very interesting but it wasn't that well executed. Oh well!

The third thing we chose to do was ride the rollercoaster at New York New York. I wasn't feeling very well and was a little dizzy to start with so I can't tell you if it was a good rollercoaster or if I was just especially whimpy that day! It was fun though.

The weather took a dive towards freezing while we were there and Tim and I had a funny day walking the strip into gale-force winds that made our eyes water and forced me to buy a hat and gloves. But it is well worth doing, our favorite hotels were of course the Venetian, as well as the Bellagio. Beautiful.

By far the highlights of our trip though, were eating at Shibuya restaurant at the MGM Grand, THE best Japanese food I've ever eaten, and then going to see the Cirque du Soleil show Ka. It was breathtakingly good. I can't begin to describe it so let me just leave a link!

http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/ka/default.aspx

So there is so much more to Vegas than casinos and gambling! I'm not sure I would ever take children there (too many scantily clad waitresses and nasty flyers on the streets) but I would go back if there were good shows to watch.

MIA

2009-11-25T09:50:00.000-08:00

So, things are a tad hectic in our house at the moment! Last weekend Tim and I went on our annual Jacksonville trip to watch an NFL game (Jags won this year - woohoo!). This week Max is off school, we've got our special assembly day in Conyers on Saturday and next week we're off on the company trip to Las Vegas. I'm a bit nervous about burdening a dear friend with not one, but two children and the school run on top of that but hopefully we'll all survive.

Normal operations should be back up and running by the middle of December. Then my parents arrive! Being busy is good, right?

Cumberland Island (pic heavy!)

2009-10-28T07:32:00.000-07:00

It's been raining here for the last two days and it reminded me that I still haven't put up photos of our rainy trip to Cumberland Island!

We took a trip there after first visiting Okefenokee swamp again.

We had a great time and saw plenty of alligators - Donal had a hard time believing they were real at first as they stay so still and are right there in front of you on the foot paths! Some of us (read: everyone but Nik) went to the reptile show and got to touch snakes and baby alligators. We spent the night in St. Mary's and then headed off bright and early on our camping adventure.

Cumberland Island is an island off the coast of Georgia. It's a protected national park and you can only get there by your own boat or by the daily ferry service. They only allow 300 people on the island at one time and it's about the size of Manhattan, so you can have all the privacy you want. The beaches are long, wide and extremely beautiful.

We decided to initiate my sister in the ways of camping. You can only bring what you can carry onto the island so I was a little worried about supplies, tent, sleeping things and food for 6 people for 3 days but it turns out that we managed just fine, we even had some food left over!

Ramen noodles in the rain anyone?

We arrived on the ferry, checked in and were assigned our camp site. After a short hike through a canopy of the most beautiful gnarled oak trees and groundcover of spiky saw palmetto, we got to our camp site. Despite the rain we managed to get our tent up, a fire going and extra wood chopped. Unfortunately it continued to rain all day and all night! We didn't mind too much and figured if we were already wet, we might as well just go to the beach and get even wetter in the ocean.

The kids are real water babies and love, love, LOVE the beach. They complain at home if they get water in their faces in the bath tub but somehow they don't mind getting hit square in the face by a big wave! Lily had fun chasing the sea birds and trying to stick her little fingers into every sand flea hole she could find. She's also an avid beach comber and we managed to find some beautiful shells.

After the weather eased up the next day, we went on a LONG hike (especially for little feet) to the Dungeness ruins and to see the wild horses.

We saw several armadillos, live ones - up until that point I'd only ever seen squished ones by the side of the road. A real highlight, oddly enough, was watching the amazingly colorful dung beetles busily clearing the hiking trails after the horses had been through. It was a very entertaining sight!

I don't quite think we converted our guests to camping - rain + sand + cold showers don't really add up to a spa vacation but it was a once in a lifetime trip. And boy did our warm showers feel good once we got home!

Our brave photographer.

This photo pretty much sums up our first 24 hrs....... wet!

More photos...

2009-10-23T08:39:00.000-07:00

Max woke up at 4 am screaming in pain. He said he had a stomach ache. He threw up at 5,6 and 7am and is now home from school and typically - feeling perfectly fine. Ahh, this parent thing is fun sometimes!

Anyway, I know I promised lots of photos so I thought the best way to get them up here whilst sleep deprived would be a slide show. So, here you are. A slide show of photos from the fair. Again, photos by the talented Nicola

My beloved sister!

2009-10-17T13:56:00.000-07:00

She and my BIL have been visiting for the past two weeks as you know. They left on Thursday evening and I miss them already! We had a lot of fun, we took them to the fair and thank goodness we went when we did - it's rained every day since.

We also took them camping to Cumberland Island. That's another post all by itself, but let me just say that I don't think we converted them to camping...... despite the scenery LOL. We did, however, convert them to So You Think You Can Dance - who doesn't love that show?!

The biggest highlights though were just hanging out with them and playing together as a family.

Nik is a fantastic photographer and she managed to get some brilliant shots while she was here. I'll be sharing them over the next couple of days. So here are some of the kids playing with their Uncle Donal:

"How does this thing work??"

Father and Daughter Jam Session

2009-10-13T16:14:00.000-07:00

Lily really has a gift for singing. She sings about everything. She truly loves music and can often be seen with her eyes closed giving a heartfelt rendition of "Battlefield" to an invisible audience.

The kids both love it when Tim plays guitar for them too and Lily likes to sing along. Unfortunately I wasn't able to capture Lily's caterpillar and roly-poly song on video and she'd had enough of making up lyrics by the time I'd found the camera, but the little father/daughter jam session that followed is just too cute for words.

Tim was just making up melody and lyrics on the fly and our little song bird chimed in there with him ♥ Enjoy!

Whoops! Time flies when you're having fun

2009-10-13T16:13:00.000-07:00

My sister and brother-in-law have been here for two weeks now and the time has just FLOWN by. I apologize for not putting up any blog posts between then and now. There will be plenty over the coming days!

Busy busy busy

2009-09-24T18:38:00.000-07:00

We've got the Circuit Overseer and his wife visiting this week, as well as a couple in training to be their backups. Combine all the extra activities with a PTA meeting, volunteering at Max's school, service and running a house, I haven't had a lot of time to blog - sorry!

It's an exciting week next week too, but one that should be filled with news - my sister and brother in law are arriving on Tuesday!!!! :D We're all very very excited and I'm sure I'll have tons of photos and stories to share during their stay.

Funny conversations in the car...... Part 1

2009-09-15T13:46:00.000-07:00

So I pick Max up from Kindergarten and we're driving to the shops discussing what to have for dinner. The kids both say anything but tomatoes.

It breaks out into a discussion of whether it's pronounced TO-MAY-TO (said in their cute little American accents) or TO-MAH-TO (my accent). It goes on and on for ages..... so I decide to settle it and get someone else on my side by asking what Lola from Charlie and Lola says.

They look at each other and both say.........

"moonsquirters!!!" You can't win an argument with kids.

If you are not a parent of small children or just have no idea what I'm talking about - then watch this video clip. Plus, I put it here because it's Dad's favourite show ever!'

Watch I Will Not Ever Never Eat A Tomato in Animation | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Just a clip

2009-09-10T10:58:00.000-07:00

of the very talented Mr. Jason Mraz. Opera - who knew?! This clip gives me goosebumps every time.

Lily gets Wii fit!

2009-09-04T18:26:00.001-07:00

Here is the little ray of sunshine that is my daughter...... using my wii fit. (Yes, the same wii fit that two days ago sent me into a panic by telling me I'd gained 8lbs.... only to step on it today - when it said "congratulations, you've lost 9.7lbs" Diet avoided for another week!) I just adore all the effort she's putting into the rowing squats and the counting under her breath. Her hula-hooping has me in stitches every time. Bless her.

There's another video of her doing step aerobics (complete with blowing me kisses in the middle of the routine ♥) but it's longer and I'll have to upload it tomorrow.

My favourite timewaster

2009-08-28T15:53:00.001-07:00

I have to confess that there are some evenings where I don't feel like doing anything meaningful with my time. I just want to veg by the computer and let my brain be entertained for a while. YouTube is the perfect mindless entertainment vehicle. There is SO much you can learn if you look carefully.

YouTube videos taught me to crochet. You can just pause and rewind until you've got the hang of a stitch. It also taught me how to do various things with my sewing machine, like add an ivisible zipper without the special foot.

My latest favourite though is all the wonderful makeup artists and beauty enthusiasts that share their tips, reviews, tutorials on different looks and general musings. I've got a whole bunch on my subscriptions list but a few hightlights are:

Pixiwoo - a pair of makeup artist sisters. Seriously, they are geniuses when it comes to makeup. They can transform themselves into different celebrities a la Kevyn Aucoin.

http://www.youtube.com/user/pixiwoo
http://www.fashionface.tv/

MakeupGeekTV - a beautiful girl with great skills (a musician as well as a makeup artist!)

http://www.youtube.com/user/MakeupGeekTV
http://www.makeupgeek.com/

Pursebuzz - she's great at makeup but what keeps me watching her are her hair tutorials, she's great at updos! She also has a lovely website (and is currently running a competition!)

http://www.youtube.com/user/pursebuzz
http://www.pursebuzz.com/

Lollipop26 - she's just an ordinary working girl who has a passion for clothes, makeup and pretty things. And hey! she uses blogspot too :)

http://www.youtube.com/user/lollipop26
http://lollipop26writes.blogspot.com/

As long as you can filter out all the adoration of all things MAC (my budget as a stay at home mom doesn't quite stretch that far!), you can get some really useful tips. The reviews are really helpful if you can't afford to experiment your way forward with makeup and need someone else to test it out first.

Enjoy wasting hours of your life watching these girls!

Crafty post

2009-08-27T13:22:00.001-07:00

A few months ago I got it into my head that I wanted to get some old tea cups from Goodwill and do something crafty with them. I am a frustrated crafter... I LOVE crafts and have a creative being lurking somewhere very very deep inside but I haven't really got one talent to give it it's outlet. So I dabble. In lots of little things. Rough translation = there are lots of mostly finished projects lurking around that I'm too embarassed to give away because they're not perfect!

Anyway, a candle came to mind. So I made these lovely little tea cup candles for my friends (some are colourful like this one and some are dainty white china)

Tim works close to Hobby Lobby and had picked up the wicks and tabs up for me ♥ along with some handy bags to melt the wax in so you don't have to dedicate a pan just to candle making. I added some essential oils for scent and a few of the kids' leftover crayons for colour (see, I might be losing the accent but I still can't bring myself to type in "American"). It's a really great, cheap and easy project for an afternoon and I think they turned out quite cute!

Unfortunately I've been feeling gross all week and haven't really been able to give them to anyone yet, something I hope to remedy this weekend, when hopefully the neck and sinus issues will be better.

How decadent!

2009-08-22T15:34:00.000-07:00

The children are spending the weekend with Tim's sister & brother-in-law. It was quite odd not to hear a little pitter patter down the hall this morning, it didn't climb in our bed and tell us that it was hungry and thirsty and that it's brother was still asleep. The house is eerily quiet and I keep forgetting they're gone and thinking that they're up to no good in their room.

On the other hand we have been able to hop in the car and go anywhere we want on a whim. We went to the book store without having to play with the train or remind anyone not to run or yell or pull random books off the shelf and put them back in the wrong place. We've had a nice margarita lunch and walked over to the movie theater to catch the matinee. Followed by a nice afternoon nap (I know, how decadent is that!) and cooking for two - we're feeling quite spoiled.

Isn't it funny thinking about what you placed values on before you had children? Now the most precious and lavish treats are being able to do what you want, when you want to and having an uninterrupted meal!

Thanks D&D

Cooking up a storm

2009-08-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

When Max is in school I find it makes my life a lot easier if I make a menu for the week and just do one big shopping trip. It saves money too, I don't think I've ever gone into the grocery store for one thing and come out with just that one thing - have you?!

When we have company coming I also like to spend a day or two making large batches of food and freezing it. So when you've had a long, fun day (shopping!) with your visitors you don't have to worry about cooking. My sister and brother-in-law are coming to visit at the end of September so today I spent the day filling up the freezer.

I made pot roast in the slow cooker and while that was cooking I got to work on turkey, corn and black bean chili and a double batch of marinara. One half of the marinara got mixed with spicy Italian sausage and penne pasta. Sprinkled lots of parmesan on top and put it in one of these - They go straight from the freezer to the oven to the dishwasher. Brilliant things. The other half of the marinara got frozen for later use in chicken parmesan. I tend to make recipes up but if you want the recipes I'd be more than happy to share them.

Of course I made extra large batches so that I could take out enough for us to eat this week too. Now, if only I could get someone to clear up the giant mess I've made in the kitchen......

BIG shoutout to Google

2009-08-11T13:59:00.000-07:00

I know this is a Google based blog - the format is just SO easy to use for a non-programmer like myself, but it seems like every week I find something else I love about Google's different features!

Google has settled MANY a dispute in our household, whether it's what movie we've seen an actor in TV in before or a historical fact. It's also our dictionary, just type the word you're trying to spell in and it will come up with the correct spelling.

My Blackberry is always at my side and I can't count the times the Google Maps app. has saved me from getting lost. It's fantastic and means I don't have to pay for a GPS program. I even think it's more efficient than GPS.

I use Google's gmail as my main email account. It's free, I've never had issues with spam and it's a snap to organize emails into different categories, ones that make sense, like the receipts folder.

The Google reader feature means that I can keep up with all the blogs I follow (and there are quite a few!) all on one page as soon as they're updated.

Today I discovered the Google calendar. Brilliant stuff. It's a week at a glance that you can colour code and then print out! Genius. If you've ever tried to do this yourself you'll know how tricky it is to do or how much people charge for the seemingly simple programs that can do it for you.

So, even though this isn't a sponsored post, can I just say a quick "thank you" to Google for making this Mom's life a bit eaiser!!

Max's first day of school

2009-08-07T11:19:00.000-07:00

He was SO excited!! Homework done, backpack packed, lunch ready in his Spiderman lunch box in the fridge... he had a hard time getting to sleep the night before. The next morning he practically hopped into his uniform and gobbled down his breakfast - we were ready well before we needed to leave.

We walked him into his classroom on the first morning and he just seemed so happy. His first day went well but he was very tired and quite overwhelmed so we didn't get too much information from him. Fortunately they bring home an agenda every night to tell the parents the important stuff. He did leave his lunch box at school so I had to put a note on his backpack for him to remember to bring it home today.

They have an interesting system at his school for kids who get dropped of by their parents. You put a decal on the window of your car with the child's last name on it. After they're let out of class, all the children get put in the auditorium. Then as you pull up to the school a teacher outside radios your child's name to the auditorium and they come outside and the teacher puts them in the car! The first day was a mess, of course, noone seemed to follow the directions we were given and lots of impatient parents clogged up traffic by going the wrong way. But I think once it calms down it is a very efficient way of doing things.

Anyway, enough babbling - here are some more photos of my handsome boy on his first day of school ♥

Ichetucknee springs

2009-08-03T18:24:00.000-07:00

We decided to take one final little break before Max goes back to school. On Wednesday we packed up the van and took off for a few days to go camping! Years ago, B.C. (Before Children), Tim and I went with his parents to Ichetucknee springs in north Florida. It's a beautiful place - freshwater springs that all feed into a crystal clear river. Nice cold water is refreshing on a hot summer day.

You hire an inflatable tube and float down the gorgeous lazy river. It takes between 2-3 hours if you don't go all the way down and when you've got small children that's plenty! We got hold of tubes that held two people, one in front and one at the back so we could keep a good grip on the kids, despite life jackets. We saw LOTS of turtles, some of them swam right by us. We also saw a mother wood duck with her babies following her, some herons and big snails. The kids were fascinated, we got to sit back and relax.

Camping was great! As long as you don't mind being a bit sweaty and dirty for a few days that is. We stayed at a nice camp site (a bit primitive but it had a faucet and some picnic tables and port-a-potties), it was quite private and quiet, being the middle of the week.

The children had lots of fun roasting marshmallows and strumming the guitar. We had fun too, cooking on a wok - it really is the perfect camping tool. It was a nice practice run for figuring out what we need when we go camping on Cumberland Island in October with Donal and Nicola.

Here's a video of Lily's camping song and a few photos too

Lily's Camp fire song:
Every time I go camping..
There's no ghosts
Cause Max is just kidding.
About the real ghosts.
But there isn't a real one
but it's not.
It's pretend.
That's it!

Photos from the beach (July 4th weekend)

2009-07-28T09:03:00.001-07:00

Tim pointed out to me last night that I forgot to upload the photos from the beach half of our long weekend. I only shared the alligators. So here are the rest of the pictures. We went to Jekyll island and rented a lovely little condo that backed right up onto the beach.

Max spent most of the morning sprinting up and down the beach and swimming and Lily spent most of her day beachcombing for shells. We found tons of sand dollars and shells. Lily loved finding the big conch shells that were still occupied. She'd tickle the foot until it went back inside the shell. We found a few teeny crabs and little hermit crabs too.

Here they are building a sand castle

Tim also set up a hammock outside the back door - it was VERY relaxing!

Kindergarten - here we come!

2009-07-24T15:42:00.001-07:00

My son's teacher-to-be phoned this afternoon to introduce herself. How nice is that?! Apparently she's been wanting to teach Kindergarten for a long time and is excited to finally get the grade she wants. What a bonus to have a teacher that is thrilled to be getting your child's class.

School starts in less than TWO WEEKS! The summer has flown by so fast. Tomorrow we'll be getting the final pieces of Max's uniform. He's been asking every week how many days are left until he starts school. It's starting to get very real - my baby is going to school!! Combine that with turning 30 last week and I'm starting to feel just a little bit old.

My eyes! My eyes!

2009-07-24T14:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was looking after a friend's daughter (said friend is a diet saboteur - 2 lots of cake in 2 days! but that's a different blog post). Not wanting to be in the house with three children under 6 for a whole day I decided to take them to the library. Pretty harmless, right? Wrong.

It all started to go south when we arrived with several other flustered moms dragging children along, rushing into the building at 10:29 only to discover that the 10:30 story time we were all trying to get to has finished for the summer. Whoops! Not to worry, we all pretended we knew that and were simply there for the books, not the puppet show.

After the children had picked out enough books and were starting to get a little loud, we got in the elevator ready to go. Only it stopped at the "grown-up floor" as it's referred to in our house. Fine, I needed a good book to read anyway. I was just giving up hope looking at the biography isle while trying to stop three kids from running away or yelling, disturbing the eery quiet when S (friend's daughter) stops, points and starts giggling uncontrollably. I poke my head around the corner to see what was so funny and well, I snorted. Loudly. In a library. We ducked back into the biography isle and I ashamed to say that, egged on by three small giggling children, I snapped a picture on my trusty Blackberry - thank goodness for the zoom function!

Some things are still as amusing when you're 30 as they are when you're 3.5............

*giggle* You'd have thought he'd have felt the breeze or something!

Oh the shame!

2009-07-16T13:55:00.001-07:00

I love cooking, it's one of my favourite things to do. I'm not afraid of many recipes. Beef wellington? Bring it on! A roast dinner with all the fixings and gravy that will make you cry? In my sleep. The only recipe I just can't master is pancakes. I can make a decent crepe, but for some reason those big fluffy american style pancakes have just eluded me. Ask Tim and he'll tell you about all the times he's come home to find an irritated sweaty wife standing by the stove muttering angry words at a blob of mess in a pan with crusty pans and bowls all over the countertop, dried on batter on the stove and Hong Kong Express on speed dial. Trust me, it's not pretty. Even the powdered kind you allegedly just have to add wet ingredients to don't work.

So you can imagine my delight when a friend told me about a discovery her Dad had made. Her daughter likes to have pancakes or waffles for breakfast. But going through all that effort and mess every morning for one pancake for a finicky toddler that might decide they're not hungry after all is just too much work if it's not a special occasion! Her Dad came across this in the refridgerated section of Publix:

I'm not a fan of processed food. Why pay extra for something you can make cheaper from scratch, when you can pronounce all the ingredients in it and guarantee it's good for your kids to eat? But I was SO happy when I went and found it for myself next to the whipped cream in a can and coffee creamer - a part of the store I never would have gone to on my own. The ingredients were all recognizable and organic to boot.

I tried it out on the kids this afternoon and they were very very pleased. They wolfed down every last bite! The batter does float out quite a lot so it was easier to do a few large pancakes than lots of little ones. They were fluffy but not chewy. A little sweet but not too much, just enough salt and nice crispy edges. And the cleanup was only a pan and a spatula!

Sometimes you've just got to admit defeat!! I'll definately use this again. I even found a coupon

Menacing mangos!

2009-07-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

Max loves mangos. Adores them. He'll eat a whole one in one sitting. He's never had a reaction to eating one.

Last week he woke up with the most hideous rash on his face. It looked like both cheeks and his lips were covered in a poison ivy rash! It really looked horrendous. The only thing I could think of that could have caused it was his snack the day before. I'd cut off the two sides of the mango and cubed it for him. Obviously he wanted more because he went and got the seed and the skins and tried to eat the little scraps that were left. In the process he had smeared the mango and apparently the skin as well all over his face trying to get every last bit of fruit.

After some research we found out that the skin of a mango contains the same chemical that causes reactions to poison ivy! Who knew? Poor buddy, he looked pretty bad for a few days until it went away on it's own (the photo was taken about three days later). So be warned about the hazards of mangos!

http://www.allergy-details.com/111-poison-ivy-allergy

Sundaes on Saturday

2009-07-08T09:23:00.000-07:00

Is there anything more fun than watching a child enjoy an icecream sundae? Pure joy.

Okefenokee swamp

2009-07-04T17:04:00.000-07:00

Today we arrived at the Okefenokee swamp and it was a first to the kids and I, Tim had been there once before when he was about 10.

We had a guided boat tour of the swamp. Our host, TJ, has been giving the tour for 30 years and has made friends with two of the alligators, Erin and Sweetie. He brings them little treats like marshmallows and the occasional chicken leg. So now when they hear his voice, they come swimming to see him, fast!

Thanks to TJ we got a very up close and personal experience with these amazing and very powerful creatures. Definitely worth a visit if you've never been before!

Hopefully I can figure out how to upload photos from my phone so that you can see them for yourself.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

ETA: that is how close we got, those photos were taken on Tim's phone with NO zoom. You could literally reach out and touch them, if you were stupid enough to try!!

Swamp creatures!

2009-07-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

Every weekend we just look at each other and say "lets go somewhere" and proceed to list a number of places we'd go if we had the time. Yesterday evening Tim looked at me and said "let's go." So off we're going. First to the swamp to see aligators and then we're headed East to the beach.

I love love love last minute surprise vacations, the kids were very excited when we told them where we were going today. Hopefully we'll have lots of fun photos to share when we get back on Monday.

Secret Agent Max

2009-06-16T06:36:00.001-07:00

Max is obsessed with the Spy Kids movies. He loves them. He'd watch them all day every day if he could. I just love this shot that Tim snapped of him with his cool spy glasses on.

My poor head!

2009-06-12T10:06:00.000-07:00

Every Thursday morning we go to story time at the local library. This week it was packed - as it usually is when the older children are out of school - and they had a visitor. A lady with a guitar and some boxes. Great, I thought, they will have a bit of a sing and we'll read some stories. Oh no. No stories. The boxes were filled with percussion instruments.

40 children (and some Moms too) were yelling, singing, banging cymbals, tambourines, shaking bells and maracas and using those hideously loud clappy wooden things. All at the same time. It's now a full day later and my head is still ringing and I can't seem to stop clenching my teeth. But they had FUN! lots of fun.

For Denell

2009-06-02T17:19:00.000-07:00

Thought this might put a smile on your face Denell! The kids found my wig from all those years ago in the drama and Lily put it on.... well, you can see the cuteness for yourself.

Lily and Denell

Tim's new grill

2009-06-02T16:34:00.000-07:00

Tim is over the moon with his present - the perfect charcoal grill that he's been eyeing for a while. It has baskets that raise and lower the coals so you can control they heat. After he put it together Sunday, I cut a chicken in half and he smoked it over green hickory and pecan logs. YUM! We also grilled some of his mutant zucchini (I've been trying to find the photos of the squash and zucchini but after installing Vista nothing is where it's supposed to be....)

Chickadees

2009-06-02T16:22:00.000-07:00

Brandon Stapleton, Tim's Cousin, has a few beautiful chickens. The Sunday after memorial we ate at Brandon and Johanna's. The kids spent hours feeding the chickens, collecting eggs and petting the bunnies named Roger and Jessica (lol). They couldn't get enough of hunting for eggs and their faces when they found some were priceless!

Unconventional gardening techniques

2009-05-27T05:59:00.001-07:00

Max and Lily LOVE being outside and "helping" with the gardening. Lily in particular is Daddy's little helper and knows which plants are edible (she loves spinach, mint leaves and cilantro) and you can often find her singing and talking to plants. Max is usually climbing a tree.

Sometimes though they will disappear to the back of the house and this is how I found them the other week. Tim had dug a drainage trench from under the house and they had got their watering cans and were filling it up and playing in the mud. Happy as two little piggies, how could I have stopped them? They were just having such a fantastic time and well, little children and clothes can be washed, right?

From Mud Pit

Anniversary

2009-05-27T05:40:00.001-07:00

As of May 8th, Tim and I have been married for 10 years! Wow, I can't believe how fast it went. Two children, a house and lots of laughs and grey hair and we can honestly say we've never been happier. Thanks for a wonderful decade my love. ♥

Growing up we'd always join in the celebration on Mum and Dad's anniversary and everyone would buy presents for everyone else. Who knew that on the other side of the world that the Cunninghams were growing up doing the same thing? We decided to keep the tradition going and boy were the kids excited when they saw their presents. Their little faces when they upwrapped them were priceless. They also painted and decorated some picture frames for Daddy. Here are some photos.

Viruses

2009-05-26T11:02:00.000-07:00

No, not the kind that come from "nasty yucky germs" as the kids say. The other kind. That people email you in attatchments that look so nice and innocent until they crash your whole computer, forcing you to do a total backup and reinstall.

Fortunately we didn't lose anything, but it has put me horribly behind and I've got loads of photos I want to share with you from the last two weeks. So stay tuned for lots of posts in the coming days.

Very excited!!

2009-05-12T08:55:00.000-07:00

WOOHOO! I just found out (I skip through commercials, so I missed it) that in leu of Project Runway, which is stuck in legal battle no-man's land and not likely to return soon, Bravo are running a new design show called The Fashion Show. I missed the first episode but there is a re-run tomorrow night. I can't wait to see if it's any good. Oh, and one of the judges is Isaac Mizrahi in all his fabulousness. If I could afford it I'd wear his clothes from head to toe all day, every day.

I LOVE these shows and always end up dusting off my sewing machine half way through the season. I might just have to make a trip to the fabric store before the convention in June....

When it all goes quiet....

2009-05-06T14:47:00.000-07:00

...... and you walk into the room to find a pile of HAIR on the sofa.... well, you know that something bad has happened.

Max was practicing cutting paper with his (supposedly child-proof) scissors and got bored. Of course, Lily picked them up and decided that she would give herself a new 'do! Apparently she was trying to make her brother laugh. And her mother have a fit.

When I finally found her (hiding in a corner) she had cut a big gouge out of the front of her hair, all the way to the scalp. The worst possible spot for covering it up.

After toying with the idea of just shaving it all off (Tim's idea), we called a good friend who is a genius hairdresser and yesterday she sorted her hair out so that it looks decent again. I actually love it and think it really suits her! Thanks Beverly!!

Bad news/good news

2009-04-27T08:39:00.000-07:00

So off we went to the Special Talk yesterday. Pull up at the Kingdom Hall, go to the ladies room to put on the lipstick I didn't have time to put on before we left and whoosh! Lily throws up allover my skirt and shoes. Lovely. Fortunately Tim and I had taken seperate cars and I was able to listen in on the phone. (Great job Bob btw!) But ewww. Not pleasant at all. Poor baby was pretty pitiful all day but today the bug seems to have disappeared! Hooray!

This morning I didn't know how well she'd be so we popped home and picked up the stroller and headed down to the River Walk for a nice, brisk 3.5 mile walk. The weather is so beautiful in the mornings. When it's hot during the day it seems a shame to waste the lovely cool mornings, so we took full advantage of it. Apart from not being able to play at the playground due to a creepy homeless man making it his bed for the morning.... we had a great time.

Lily is the perfect walking partner, as soon as I slowed even a little, she started cheering "go mummy go!" bringing a smile to lots of faces that we passed on the way.

Doesn't she look much healthier today? Hopefully this is the end of sickness in our house for a good long while.

Urgh, what a week.

2009-04-23T06:06:00.000-07:00

I am on anti-biotics for a stubborn chest infection. Last night Max was up in the middle of the night vomiting. So today we are all home feeling very sorry for ourselves and more than a little sleep deprived.

On a happier note we had a lovely weekend. We went to a surprise party for our friends Heath and Kelly's 10th wedding anniversary. The surprise went off without a hitch and they genuinely didn't suspect anything. Heath's sister had made a fantastic picture/video show about their lives together. His mother had also saved the bubbles from their wedding 10 years ago. Kelly was very touched. And the kids had a blast blowing bubbles.

This weekend is the annual IDMI company picnic. We're going to one of the VPs horse farm. There will be bouncy castles, pony rides and (whoop whoop) onsite babysitters!! It's amazing to see how the company has grown and there will be a LOT of little kids there. Should be very fun. Let's hope this gorgeous weather holds up for us.

Breaking the silence!

2009-04-14T06:18:00.001-07:00

Sorry about not updating for a while. To be honest, the Disney trip really left me exhausted and I've been trying to catch up on sleep ever since.

It was a fabulous trip, however and we had more fun than any of us expected. Max was thrilled to be just the right height to be able to go on all but the very scariest of rides. He really surprised us with how brave he is - he had no fear of the rollercoasters and somehow managed to score the front seat on every ride he went on! And he lost his second tooth while we were there. How cool is that?

The first day we went to Sea World and the kids got to feed and touch the dolphins. The dolphin show was spectacular and they've really made it into a show rather than just a dolphin exhibition. It was very cirque du soleil with high wire acts, music, flying parrots and it was a real highlight for us. The Shamu show was great too of course.

The second day we visited the Magic Kingdom. It was so much fun! Lily got to meet Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Belle. She was so star struck at the first two that she barely said a word, just stared in awe at them. She hasn't seen Beauty and the Beast so she chatted away to Belle without any shyness. She wouldn't let us wipe of Aurora's lipstick and walked around with it on her cheek for the rest of the day.

We went back to Sea World the next day to catch the parts we'd missed on the first time round, like the manatees (wow those things are enormous!) and pet the dolphins one more time. Tim and I also got to ride the amazing Kraaken roller coaster while the children were with Grandma and Pappa at the Shamu show. There were no lines to wait in because everyone was at the show and we rode it until I got so dizzy we couldn't ride any more! Good times.

On Saturday Denell and Devin had to go home so we saw them off and went to Epcot - the one place Tim wanted to see before we left. We had fish and chips in England, eclairs in Paris, beer in the beer garden in Germany and falafel in Morocco. In Paris Lily got to meet Sleeping Beauty again. She took quite a shine to our little princess and wouldn't let her go! She spent a long time with her and really made her day.

We stayed until closing so that we could see the breath taking fire works display, it was worth waiting around for!

We must have walked for miles and miles every day, no wonder we were so tired. But it really was a fantastic trip, we enjoyed it thoroughly -thank you Charles and Eunice - happy 40th wedding anniversary!

Testing out email blogging

2009-03-31T09:48:00.000-07:00

Just testing out the wonderful blogger function where you can email your posts directly to your blog! Pretty nifty.

After starting our day with a hearty breakfast at Cracker Barrel we are now on the road. We can't wait!
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Rough day yesterday

2009-03-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

I am such a clutz. I wasn't feeling very well on Thursday, got a bit dizzy and managed to put my hand down on a hot plate turned way up! Doh. Burned it pretty badly and then woke up the next morning (after 3 hours sleep) to find I've got a stomach bug and can't keep any food down. Fun fun fun. Seems like I can't take a vacation without some medical emergency beforehand.

Feeling much much better today, thankfully and it's been POURING outside. Heavy rain and thunderstorms and the dark gloomy weather on a Saturday = the kids sleep in and we all have a lazy morning! Hooray!

So on the agenda for today is catching up with the house cleaning - one handed - that was supposed to be done yesterday and packing our suitcases - just four more days to Disney World!

Max had his interview at the school yesterday - I couldn't go unfortunately but attended via speaker phone (thanks babe!). At first I thought he wasn't in the room since he sat perfectly quietly while the adults talked for a while. But when the teacher spoke to him, he was his lovely, charming, happy self. Tim and I both had a little sniffle to ourselves as he breezed through the tasks she asked him to do and chatted away to her. He is really excited now that he's seen the school in person. We can't wait for him to start.

Yay Max!

2009-03-18T13:11:00.000-07:00

In other family news..... Max has been accepted to a very good magnet school! You are assigned a school according to which school district you live in but Macon has three magnet elementary schools that anyone can apply to go to, then they have a lottery to pick the lucky students. We put in an application to the Science and the Art magnet schools. We aren't in a very good district so you can imagine our relief that he got a reply from the Art school telling him he'd been accepted!!

Each subject at his new school is taught by a teacher with a degree in art integration - meaning that they encourage learning through visual and auditory means rather than sitting at a desk reading from a text book. They have one extra class a day - with art, singing, music lessons or dancing to choose from. The atmosphere is very fun and their test results seem to show that their methods work. Max seems quite excited about it too and he will get to see the school for himself when he goes for his interview next Friday.

His teacher wrote him a beautiful letter of recommendation. Well done buddy, we're proud of you!

A little allergy warning!

2009-03-18T12:48:00.001-07:00

Just a little post to let you know we haven't all disappeared. We've just been very, very busy. The kids are extremely excited about going to Disney World in two weeks' time and I think this weekend we'll start crossing the days off the calendar.

Yesterday we had a little scare with Lily. Someone had baked her some brownies and she was very eager to eat them. We were way out in the country and had a few hours before we were due to pick Max up so I told her she had to wait until then to eat them so that he could have one too. Thank goodness I did!

I picked Max up from school and gave them a brownie each to keep them happy in the car while I drove to the mall to find Lily a princess costume for Disney. I saw her scratching her face and thought nothing of it - she's got such sensitive skin that something is always making her itch.

Half way round Target and she'd developed red blotches around her mouth. I grabbed a costume and marched her straight to the pharmacy and by the time we got there her lips had swollen up, they had blisters on and she was starting to sound wheezy. I grabbed some Benadryl off the shelf and opened it right there in the allergy isle and gave her a dose. We paid for our things and drove straight to her doctor's office. By now she was looking a LOT better and they checked her out and declared her perfectly fine. The Dr. prescribed her an epi-pen just in case - apparently the next time could well be worse. She is also booked in for some allergy testing on Monday.

The only other allergic reaction she's had is to cats - and once it was quite severe, so I am beating myself up over not having her tested then. But since she'd been eating peanuts for a long time I thought she didn't have an allergy to nuts. Turns out there were walnuts in the brownies and tree nuts are in another family - what a way to learn that botanical nugget!

The mind boggles when I think about what would have happened had she eaten the brownie twenty minutes away from the nearest town or pharmacy. So please, never let your child eat a new food or something cooked by someone else unless you are near a store or hospital! And if your child has an allergic reaction to one thing, get them checked out - they could have a sensitivity to other things too!

But as it is we are relieved that she is fine, have given her lots of extra hugs and kisses and will now carry a little pink bag (decorated with Hello Kitty stickers) where ever we go to make sure she stays that way. Just in case.

Photo of the day

2009-03-10T18:35:00.000-07:00

Lily fell in love with a random stranger's lawn ornaments today, she couldn't get enough of these trumpet playing frogs!

She is suddenly looking very grown up - it could be that her hair is finally growing or that she's using words like "frustrated" and "congregation." Should a 3 year old be using words that big?!

We had another beautiful sunny day today. Hope it lasts!

2009-03-08T18:31:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a perfect day to fly a kite. Mid 80's windy, keep in mind last sunday we were throwing snow balls and sled riding.

Snow video

2009-03-05T11:06:00.001-08:00

The kids are sick. Again. It's the cough and cold that just won't go away. I can't stop sneezing. I need to clean the house and go to the store but noone wants to go out. Tim is in Texas. Meh, it's just not the best day today.

But here's a little video we took of the kids playing on a sled with their uncle Devin!

Snow - in Georgia!!!

2009-03-02T13:46:00.000-08:00

Last week we had very warm weather, on Saturday it turned nasty and we had torrential downpours complete with tornado warnings. My sister-in-law showed me a photo of the hail they got - it was HUGE, bigger than a grapefruit - and it did a lot of damage to their car, it looks like it's been beaten with a hammer.

If that wasn't strange enough weather for one week, on Sunday it started SNOWING. It's the first time in 7 years that we've had any sort of snow that lasted for more than 10 minutes.

It was raining all morning, around 3 pm it changed to snow and started sticking. Then at 5 pm we lost power at our house. So we packed up the kids and drove about an hour in the snow to my sister-in-law's house (where they have wood burning heat in case of more power outages!) to keep warm. The snow lasted overnight and the children had lots of fun playing in the snow this morning. We were able to drive home in time for lunch and find that our power was back on - hooray!

The river running through the city is overflowing and threatening to flood the roads from all the rain and snow. After looking at the weather forecast we are expecting a lovely weekend with a high in the 80's (Fahrenheit - that's about 26C)!!! The only word I can think of to describe the wacky weather this week is biblical. All we need to complete the effect is for the river to turn to blood and for us to turn back the sheets and find frogs in our beds! It's all very, very strange.

All things makeup!

2009-02-25T12:30:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I've been sick this week. A nasty cold that Max brought home from school has been making it's way around our family. So I've had some downtime. There's only so much reading and crocheting you can do without getting bored, so I turned to Youtube - the ultimate timewaster. I found out it's a treasure trove of very clever girls who are all addicted to makeup. Mostly MAC, some of them are obsessed with it. A fair few of them do makeup tutorials and review products that most of us can't afford to buy just to test them out. It's very helpful.

I read a lot of blogs too, and one name keeps cropping up - http://www.coastalscents.com/ They sell palettes of blush and eyeshadows, mineral makeup and lots of MAC-alike brushes for a very very reasonable price.

After reading lots of reviews I decided to try out the Ultra Shimmer 88 Eye Shadow Palette (left). I also ordered a lovely gel eyeliner (indigo blue) and an angled eyeliner brush. The eyeshadows are supposed to be very well pigmented like MAC eyeshadows, just a little smaller in size and a fraction of the price.

A friend recommended ELF (http://www.eyeslipsface.com/) a while back for cheap and cheerful makeup. While their makeup isn't the best quality in the world, most of the products retail for $1 each - so they make up for it in the prices and you can fill up your whole basket and feel like you got a lot for very little money. ELF also has a Studio range which is a little more expensive but apparently the quality is better. But for $1 a piece my eyeliners, lipglosses and cream eyeshadows will do just fine!

Hopefully my little haul will arrive at the beginning of next week and I can do a review of what I've got so far. Although - if things keep up like this I'm going to need a new makeup case! Right now my makeup is living in a small fishing tackle box - cheap, easy to clean and it has lots of little compartments for organization. I wonder if Bass Pro shop do industrial sized tackle boxes.....

Visit to Orlando in January

2009-02-24T12:13:00.001-08:00

Ok, last lot of photos for today, then I should be up to date - more or less (still playing around with the sizes but I'll get there eventually). Here are some photos from the trip we took to Orlando with my parents. The house was HUGE, we should have taken more people with us!!

We'll be going back in April to 'do' Disney World properly with Tim's parents. Fun fun!

2009-02-24T12:11:00.000-08:00

I'm catching up with some past photos here - I think I'm getting the hang of slide shows...

Mum and Dad were here for a visit in January of this year. This is a slideshow of pictures from a visit to the park down the street from us.

Photos from the company cruise - November '08

2009-02-24T11:16:00.000-08:00

First ever blog post!

2009-02-24T09:42:00.001-08:00

Ok, so the truth is we are terrible with keeping up with our website - www.maxcunningham.com - so I thought it would be much easier to just blog a little and often instead of uploading hundreds of photos at one go!

So here you'll find updates on what's going on in our lives, and by that I mean what is going on with the children... as well as photos of the kids, their crafts and my crafts, projects and recipes too.

Please be patient with me as I learn how this blogging thing works and feel free to leave me your top tips and hints, I'll need them!