Yay!!! She's back!!!!

I was starting to think that the concept of a nice child had totally gone out the window...

People talk about terrible 2's and although I know we've been through our share of "interesting" times with Jade... trying to push her boundaries and all.... I really thought we'd hit rock bottom in the last few weeks....

We'd been telling ourselves that she was so irritable and moody because she was "sick of being sick".... and ... I think we may have been right... the last two days she's been fantastic.....

(Well - apart from fighting with Xander over certain toys... but that's what siblings do... and Xander and Jade are the closest things that either of them have to real siblings.... not discounting Greg as a sibling... but given the age gap.. sibling rivalry really isn't there for those two.....)

This photo was taken just before Jade went down for her afternoon sleep (she's been asleep for 1.5hrs so far and hasn't started to budge - so I'm hoping for another hour and a half at least....)

I asked Jade what she was doing to Zhaan... (who was laying there quite happily purring away... until I pulled the camera out - and she wasn't overly impressed with the flash - hence the ears are down a bit....) - anyway, Jade said "I'm teaching her how to play piano!".... umm.... ok!

RIP Baby Chloe... a year on....

I can't believe it's already been a year... but it's been a reasonably good year... so no complaints...

I was a bit worried last night that Rob wouldn't be home today as he was called away to Warwick last night - but drove into the night, slept and got there this morning - fixed their computers and got home at 6:30pm...

We all had dinner and then got everyone jacketed up and we headed out with Chloe's ashes to scatter them at a local dolphin lookout... Greg and Jade came with us too...

We then headed out for icecream.... which no one complained about :)

All in all, the day went well and I really think that we're all very well healed... :)

(Helps being nearly 16 weeks pregnant!!!)

Swimming again......

Rob came swimming today... he wanted to take pics...

He wanted to play with the new lens.... don't ask me anything about it... I know it does a bigger range than both our last lenses.... (even though we still have the zoom lens cause it does go a bit further than the new lens) ... so he came to take photos... which means... yes.. you guessed it.... I'm in a photo!!! (not that this is such a good thing!!!! )

Baby Russell...

(This is Marcus' baby brother - although - not much of a baby now - he's nearly walking and is going to be 1 in a month or so)

Jade showing off her new "Gobbles" (I've tried and tried to explain how to say it... but it doesn't stick!)

Marcus... (Jade's swimming boyfriend - she's got too many boyfriends already and only 2 1/2) (you may remember him from such posts as "Jade meets Dorothy the Dinosaur")

Oh, and this is Jade's new swim hat... I got it last week because her blue one was just too big and always slipping into her eyes.. this one is almost on the side of small - but they do stretch after the first use.... so it'll be fine by next week....

Weezer Rocks

I know this isn't very 'thomaspack' like. But, geez, this song ROCKS.

I'll link it here. Watch it, it's worth it.. And this is the new YouTube 'High Definition' format, so it's not all that pixel-y.



Now, the cool thing about this song is all the internet memes that are in it. I know MOST of them, so for anyone who's missed them, here they are. In order. I'm so lame 8)

Canon Rock: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xjJXT0C0X4 which segues into
One Man Band: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHwV2JuwZls
Numa Numa Guy (He appears a couple of times in the vid): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60og9gwKh1o - obviously this is refilmed.
Prarie Dog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sochd9Xqlos
Afro Ninja: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEtIoGQxqQs -- Note that in the original vid, the nunchucks go directly behind him, whilst in the Weezer vid, they go off to the left. It's a different vid, they didn't just grab it off the net.
Diet Coke and Mentos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKoB0MHVBvM - There's piles and piles of this throughout the vid, I won't mention them all the time.
Sunglasses onto Face: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fufxw6qOjSQ which segues straight into...
Gay GI-Joe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z23ehBIecs
Most T-Shirts worn at the same time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6tlw-oPDBM
Afto Ninja (again)
Chris Crocker - Leave Britney Alone!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHmvkRoEowc
All your Base are belong to us: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qItugh-fFgg
Miss Teen Sth Carolina: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww - She waves the microphone around which turns into a light sabre:
Star Wars kid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPPj6viIBmU
Numa Numa guy (again! Woo!)
Crank That Soulja Boy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZE2OzguWHo
Evolution of Dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg
Tay Zonday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA (He's in the clip a couple more times, too)
K-Fed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6RvngAZCcQ (...he's so awful)
Tay Zonday again..
Daft Hands: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2cYWfq--Nw -OR- it could be http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyIC3Munnyw ... but I think it's meant to be Daft Hands. Not only because tt's much better, but also because Daft BODIES was the same song:
Daft Bodies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLYD_-A_X5E
T-Shirts (again)
Tay Zonday again..
Rainbow Socks Girl: http://youtube.com/watch?v=embdtwW-sSE
Afro Ninja again, but with some pwnage of his own this time!
Chris Crocker again, and again..
Tay Zonday again.
Shoes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCF3ywukQYA
Chris Crocker, again. Sigh.
Now we have a massive pan. The ones I haven't already mentoned are:
Worst Motion Capture Ever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz2ADowyy1I (I -think- .. the colours are wrong, but it looks similar.) Three of them, dancing at the bottom right
Charlie the Unicorn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5im0Ssyyus (insanely funny, especially if you like southpark) Flashed up at the back in this scene, you also see the unicorn again later
Afro Ninja vs Peanut Butter Jelly Time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8MDNFaGfT4
Miss South Carolina with a 'Will it Blend' blender: http://www.youtube.com/user/Blendtec (note I link to their user page, and the 'top' video is them Blending a Weezer CD with a can of 'Pork and Beans'. Hah). She's also blending 'Maps'. Go watch the Miss Teen video.

That's it. I'm pretty proud of myself finding all the links, EXCEPT for one. D'oh!

--Rob

Parenting gone slightly ... well... sideways....

So, Jade was mucking up tonight... she wanted her toys at the dinner table... I told her no... she threw one of her ponies... (not far - but enough to be chucking her toys which is a no no)

So Rob took her off to her bedroom and told her to come out when she was ready....

Rob didn't consider the fact that her bedroom light was off.... after a couple of minutes - Jade went silent... this isn't totally unusual as sometimes she decides that instead of screaming she'll just play with her jigsaws or something....

After about 10mins - Rob calls out "Jade, you can come out now if you want...." and nothing....

So I said "be funny if she's gone to sleep because the light is off...." then I went to check... sure enough - she was fast asleep....

Unfortunately she doesn't sleep through dry yet... so I had to go in and put a nappy on her... but she was already so far gone that she didn't even budge while I was putting her nappy on...

(and all of this is before 7pm.... Yay!!!!)

Careful on the Roads now!

Yep, that's right - Greg hits 16... and then has to go get his license.... well - he didnt' have to... but along with having a car - he kind of needs a license to drive it...

He got it on Friday and has already been out driving.... we decided that the Volvo would be the best car for his first couple of drives because it's automatic... this then takes the focus off making sure he's in the right gear and remembering the clutch and just leaves him to focus on staying on the road and controlling his speed....

With learner's now, they have to rack up at least 100hrs driving (including 10hrs of night driving)... apparently Rob believes that he'll have the 100hrs up reasonably quickly... I guess it all depends on how much time Rob is in town and how much travelling he has to do... especially at the start... not sure I want to give Greg the added stress of learning to drive with Jade in the car - so it'll have to be Rob taking him for lessons to start with....

Anyway, all of the cars are insured... so here's hoping we don't need it! :)

A Big Week!!! (Happy now Dad???)

I actually have stuff to blog about this week... and more than just one event to take photos of... (plus we now have a lens that we can actually take photos with - given the last one died at the trials weekend at Canungra a few weeks back)....

Anyway.... Thursday afternoon, after picking up Jade from school we went to Mom and Dad's place (as per usual) for a cup of tea (and yes, even Jade has tea in her butterfly mug.... (which used to be my mug when I was a kid))...

Dad had said that we couldn't visit that day, and he was wanting to work on his motorbike to get it ready to go riding on Sunday with everyone... and Jade is a distraction.... and of course she was... she got him into the sandpit to build sandcastles with her.... he builds - she destroys!



Saturday morning we headed over to Mom and Dad's place again.... (it's the place to be!!!) Mom was on the phone and Jade wanted to say hi... so she got the phone and said hi... but pretty much didn't say anything else... and I'm sure she confused the lady on the other end of the phone... so after she got off the phone... we grabbed the other phone and turned on the intercom between the phones so that Jade could talk to mom... and wasn't confusing nice little old ladies! :)





Saturday afternoon was fun.... Jade only had a little sleep... (only just over an hour....) so she was still a little on the cranky side.... (she's still getting annoyed at the cough she's got.. but she's definitely on the road to recovery).... Anyway, she found a CD marker... (nice and permanent...) and started drawing all over herself.....

Sunday morning we headed around to Mom and Dad's place (can't we find somewhere new???) to visit Mom and Gran before heading over to see Damian, Jaime & Xander (oooh - we're going somewhere new!!!!)...

Jade enjoyed reading her books with GG and Gran.....

and then by herself.....

We then headed to Jaime's place to go bicycle riding... we're hoping that Jade will pick up on the enthusiasm if she gets to go riding with Xander..... they kept swapping bikes the entire way around... Jade's bike is heavier than Xander's but apparently easier to pedal... but they both happily changed bikes - so it wasn't a drama....

Xander on Jade's bike....

Jade on Xander's bike...

After following the bike path around the duckpond we finally made it to the play ground... so Jade and Xander quickly ditched the bikes and helmets and hit the play equipment.... we stayed here for ages until Rob phoned to say that he and Greg were on their way home from riding trials and they offered to pick up hamburgers for everyone for lunch.....

Jade pushing Xander on the swing... (this was interesting when he came back further than she expected... but she didn't fall over each time...)

After having lunch, we headed BACK to Mom and Dad's place so that Rob and Greg could work on doing up Greg's ute... there was a little more rust under the flooring than they had first expected... but nothing major.. so they took out the seats, ripped up the lining and went to work at cutting out the rust and bogging up the areas and then painting the rust killer stuff all over it... Greg seemed to enjoy working with the power tools... ehhe

Jade helped by keeping watch over the car seats while they were outside the car....

While waiting for bog to dry... Greg practised balancing his scorpa.... (Now Rob's really annoyed - because he can't balance like that....)

Then we got out the unicycle... I quickly showed Greg how to get up on it... and then left him to work it out himself..... you can't really tell in this picture... but his feet are actually off the ground... unfortunately because he has skiis for feet - it looks like it's touching the ground... but it's not.... (but don't kid yourselves... he didn't get the hang of this by the end of the day... but he'll get there..... and yes, he'll work it out before Rob manages too... ehehe)

And it's here!

So. Greg now has a ute!

It's got a 4cyl, 2L Engine, so it should be reasonably economical to run. I put 20L of ULP into it last night, and it went from 'E' to just under half full. That leads me to think that it's got a 40L tank, but who knows how far out of whack the fuel gauge is in a 20 year old car 8)

There's a photo of the only rust I've been able to find, which is on the Passenger door, and it looks like I may have to go to Brisbane to pick up a door from a wrecker (sigh)

It also has the Jade seal of Approval. She thought it was great!

It's going down to Tharyn's parents place this afternoon, so we can start figuring out what's wrong with it and what needs to get fixed. The brakes are in need of some TLC, they grab very very violently when you stop. I locked up a tyre (don't know if it was front or back) 3 times bringing it back from Calliope (a 20 minute trip), so that'll have to be sorted out. It's also got what sounds like a bad bearing in the rear axle, but they're easy (if fiddly and time consuming) to replace. With those things fixed, and a new set of Tyres on it, it should breeze through roadworthy. Then we can buy some cheap paint, give it a new paintjob, and it'll be as good as new!

Oh, and it's only got 385,000km on it, and it had a new engine put in 100,000km ago, so he should get some good use out of it. He drove it a little bit around the backyard this morning. Whilst he's got the idea of clutches from riding the bike, he's still got to get used to using it, especially with the change from using his left hand to his left foot.

Greg's ute..

We didn't take any pictures of it, as it was getting late and I wanted to get home. But I found a similar one on Trading Post. Greg's isn't in anywhere as good nick as that, and the interior needs a good bit of TLC, but that's roughly what it's like. (Although Greg's _does_ have a Bullbar, which that one doesn't. It's pretty much a prerequisite of a car around here.)

FWIW: It's a 1989 RN85R Trayback Hilux 2WD Ute, with about 700,000km on the odometer. It's had a new engine put in it 'some time' ago. There's a problem with the brakes that the current owner is going to fix tonight.

It _might_ pass roadworthy. It's got some rust in the passenger door, above the window, but some bog and sanding will fix it. But it may be cheaper just to buy a new door from the wreckers.

Tomorrow (Monday) I'm off to Emerald, and then Tuesday I'll get Tharyn to drive me to Calliope to pick it up!

--Rob

Happy 16th Greg!!!!

Greg turned 16 today, apparently that now makes him more mature... *cough*cough*.... Anyway, this is a photo of the stuff we got him.... unfortunately pregnancy brain means that it doesn't really work so well at the moment.... so, it didn't occur to me that putting black gear on a black couch would affect the photo... hehe :) woops!!

Road Helmet, Road Boots (that are too small and have to changed), Road Gloves (with Kevlar Knuckles) as well as a school bag (which we hope will last more than one term at school.....he has been threatened!!!)

Anyway, we arranged earlier in the week (as long as Greg's helmet had arrived in time) that we'd go for a road ride out to Many Peaks ....

Shayne waiting to leave... excited at the idea of riding a chooky all the way to Many Peaks... (Insane!!!)

Jade and I waiting....

Rob & Greg ready to ride.... (Greg having been warned that if he even put a scratch on my bike while getting on and off - he would never sit on it again was very careful with my baby....)

Shayne on the chooky (This is the kind of bike I was riding when I was 11... not the kind of bike you want to be riding on an open highway....)

Frank on his TRX (Rob's old one)

Mom & Dad on the Beemer....

Unfortunately, Pregnancy + Toddler means that I wasn't able to ride out to Many Peaks... (although the fact that Rob and Greg were on my bike would have probably also caused a problem...)

Anyway, so we waited for Gran to get home from Church and then we headed out to Many Peaks in the Prado.... (I'm not sure that Gran would have been up for pillioning if Jade weren't an issue anyway, so someone would have had to take a car out!)

(Excuse the blurry photo... but it was the only one I took - so I blogged it!!)

This is where we sat at the pub... gotta love pub lunches... cost nothing and are huge... I only got about 1/2 way through my steak at most and then Greg had to finish it... he also finished Gran's meal as well as Jade's.... and he's stick thin... (gotta hate that!!)

Jade went straight to the kids play area when we got there, there were a few kids playing there nicely when we got there... unfortunately there was a horrid little chucky kid who thought the idea of having fun was pegging toys at the other kids... (to the point that kids were getting up and going back to their parents to get away from him.... Not Jade though.. she was just giving him evil stares...)

We got back from Many Peaks and had to head to Mom and Dad's place to drop the Storm off (not having a shed means that my bike lives there still - but that's ok!)

We stopped in at home to grab the cake out of the oven that I'd made earlier that day... and Jade insisted on helping me with the icing.... (there was heaps left over... and most of it finished up on her face.....)

I tried my best to do a "Greg 16" design with silver ball lollie things... but it was a rush job... and then jade accidentally tipped a container with hundreds and thousands - so I had to cover the cake in sprinkles too... didn't really matter though - cause the cake didn't last out the hour.... (Greg having eaten two pieces (and big pieces too!))

Jade also insisted on blowing out the candles... (complete with having to unwrap his presents in the morning....)

Oh yeah, and it was Mother's Day today too... unfortunately, this took a back stance, we'd only remembered it on Friday and Rob went out rushing shopping on Saturday to pick me up a waffle machine thingy... We had Mom, Dad and Gran over for waffles for breakfast before getting organised for the birthday motorcycle ride :)

We also managed to find a car for Greg on the way home too ... a 1989 Toyota Hilux Ute... it'll be a good first car... and he'll be able to put a trials bike on the back once he gets his license so that he can go to his friends places to ride on properties or whatever... I'll post pics once we pick it up... have to wait til Tuesday....

Themed Team Trial weekend - Canungra

Much to Greg's distaste, we left Gladstone at 6:15am Saturday morning... although, it didn't bother him for too long - he got in the car and went back to sleep.... although, had to keep waking up to tell Jade to keep her feet off her DVD player else we were going to take it away....

Anyway, we arrived in Canungra around 2pm I believe and unloaded the kids from the car where we met up with Rob who had arrived early that day to claim camp grounds for us...

Due to Jade and myself not being 100% (got a cold with a nasty cough) - Rob, Jade and I got a hotel room in a "nearby" town for the two nights and Greg got to snug it up in the back of the Merc... although he was apparently quite comfy and rather toasty warm with my super temp sleeping bag and Rob's doona that he carries in the van with him....

Trials weekends are always great, but the Brisbane club ones are even better because of the amount of kids that there are running around, so Jade and Greg both got involved with playing Touch Football as well as soccer....

Jade started the afternoon playing soccer with this little guy... who turned out to be two months older than Jade.... that was a surprise and a half (he comes to about Jade's nose)...

Anyway, Jade got bored with him rather quickly and went to play with the big kids who seem to have more fun....

At this stage of the weekend Greg hadn't been hauled into any football games and he was quite happily avoiding them.... that didn't last long.....

Rob hanging out in the back of Mom and Dad's merc....

Frank and Shayne's tent - set up as the "Reserves Head Quarters"... Their theme for the trial was "Trials Denations Army (Reserve)" team.. so they got cammo netting and set up their tent, even with a little fence around the front to stop invaders... hehe

Greg finally being roped into playing, but he wasn't allowed to score any tries because he was so much bigger than the other kids......

Greg and his little fan "Whitney".... she really took a shine to him....

Comp - day 1: before everyone had taken off to compete, complete with face paint which I don't believe lasted longer than the first lap with them all sweating and rubbing their faces.... but they still looked grotty at the end of the day - and I guess that was the aim.... :)

All members with their cammo hats on as well.....

the bikes all cammo'd up too... Rob's bike is first in the line-up... we put black stockings over the mudguard and tank to cover the red... and then Mom covered it in Green and Yellow paint for the cammo touch... unfortunately it was still wet by the first day of the comp - so most of the paint is probably stuck to Rob's pants.... ahh... doesn't matter!!!

Shayne's bike had the best cammo, she stuck tape on it backwards so that the sticky stuff was on top and then stuck grass all over the bike... unfortunately this did mean that she took some of the paint off the guards and stuff when removing it... so that's a shame....

This is one of the other teams.... These guys and our guys were pretty much the only guys that really dressed up... There were other teams that wore matching t-shirts ... and another team called "Horny Devils" that stuck horns to their helmets... but really... these guys put in the best effort in relation to actual costume....

This is just proof that Shayne was really well cammo'd.... she blends in well in the photo - don't you agree?

Mechanical repairs on day 2.... (I think this was when they'd discovered that Dad's bike was leaking oil....)

Stacks on Uncle Frank.... (he is under there somewhere.... and you can see Jade in the black jacket with the stripes, there are also about 3 other kids in there somewhere.... maybe around the other side....)