Christmas Day!

We had a marvellous Christmas day yesterday. It was great celebrating the special time with family and friends.

You can check out my photos of Christmas here. I will post some photos to my blog when I have some free time. Like, in 2023, according to my BIL, Russell...

Freaking out...

Our house is on the market. It's on the web now. We have done a lot of work and we're just finishing it off before we leave. You can see it by clicking here.
We even put lawn out the back. This photo of Georgia watering the lawn could go in a time capsule. We have a permit to water the lawn, but it has been raining lately, so we are happy :)

We're leaving for Tassie in 6 days. The house is being packed up. There's a bit of mess, but it's just stuff that needs to be packed, given away or thrown out. We have 97 boxes so far - of various sizes - and there is more to do still. I have been feeling quite sick and stressed all day today. Thank God for Monte's dad and my friends Andrew, Jules and Amanda who were here today to help.

Matthew is not 100%. I am not sure what his issue is. It might be teeth, but he didn't sleep well last night and I am exhausted. Georgia senses that something is different, obviously, and has been really out of sorts. I give the children as many cuddles and attention as I can, but boxes need to be packed, and there is a lot to do, and I can't wait to have all the time in the universe to give just to them. I am looking forward to not working.

So that's us... we are hoping for a joyous Christmas, and we hope to be more relaxed. I am expecting to enjoy the day and I want to be almost low key about it all.

Merry Christmas.

Christmas Angels

First, get an angel...

Georgia is one form of the Christmas Angel: excited, happy, joyful, full of life and energy and beautiful in every way.

Matthew is another type of Christmas angel: gorgeous, happy and gets into everything. Loves exploring the world.

How to make a Christmas Angel

First, get a paper doily.
Draw a head and arms like so:

Cut a quarter off the doily as pictured, but don't throw it away!
Turn the doily to make a cone.
Cut the cutt-off in halves and attach as wings.
Voila!
We thought we'd write people's names on them and use them as table seating cards this year. These are fun and easy to make, espcially for little hands! Georgia decorates them with glitter, stickers and pens and pencils.

Christmas Wishes

Wishing you all a Happy and Safe Christmas Season!

It has been a busy and eventful year for us this year, with the sale of our first home, the purchase of our property in Tasmania, plus a few holidays in Tassie to 'test the waters.' 

Georgia continued at occasional care at the local kindy, and even started pre-entry in term four. Matthew has been at childcare, with Georgia, one day a week, but at the end of each day he is very clingy and needs lots of cuddles with mummy! 

Rebecca returned to work, teaching English at Westminster, part-time. Now she has resigned and is looking forward to spending more time with the children. Monte has been busy, running his business, plus renovating the two houses and looking after the children when Rebecca works. He makes dinner most nights!

Our plans for the Festive Season are not very festive, I'm afraid! We're busy packing and completing the final touches to our house. We will be putting it on the market in early January. After Christmas, we will pack our belongings into a shipping container, which will arrive in Tasmania a week after we arrive. We are leaving Adelaide on December 30th, arriving on the 31st, Monte's Birthday, so we can celebrate and bring in the new year on our property. If we don't open a bottle of Moet I will scream, but on 23 acres, who will hear me?

How I feel: relieved to have finished work. I have already got things more organised at home. I love teaching, but I am excited about not 'having' to work if I don't want to! I am really sad to be leaving my family and friends here in Adelaide. I will really miss Amanda especially, as we see eachother a few times a week, and we watch 'Greys Anatomy' together, and I will miss that. I will miss being able to just 'pop in' to see our parents too. But I am really excited about having people to stay, as spending some quality time with people will surely beat a few short visits here and there. 

I am exhausted; packing things, organising things and thinking about it all is tiring. thankfully, the children are being wonderful. They play beautifully together and are mostly well behaved. At the end of the day, Georgia sometimes gets ratty, but is easily distracted with 'schoolwork' that I give her, or crafts (she always wants to make stuff). Matthew is learning to throw tantrums, but as long as I let his head land on the ground softly, I just walk away. He'll grow out of it. 

Our house is a mess and I am anxious to tidy it and get some photos taken for our real estate agent. We are giving away a lot of things. We are hoping all our stuff fits in the shipping container (it will).

For now, Merry Christmas to you. I think this Christmas will see mixed emotions in this Goulding Family!

It has begun!

The Christmas Season, of course!

Georgia awaits patiently for the big day, eager to "spend time with my family because I love them," and to see the 'surprise' that Father Christmas might bring! She dances and sings for the Christmas tree. She even hugs it. She tells stories with the ornaments. She is loving making cards and decorations for her family and friends. She reminds me of the joy I had (and have) when it's Christmas.

After dinner each night, we cross off the current day on our calendar in an effort to count down the days until Christmas, and, more importantly, the day we leave for Tasmania (December 30th)!
In our house, we traditionally decorate the Christmas tree on the first weekend of December. It so happened that that weekend fell on the first two days of December this year! Here, Georgia and Matthew decorate excitedly. Matthew enjoyed his first experience of tree decorating and was very helpful (no, really), and Georgia loved making up stories for each ornament! Yes, their t-shirts match. I can't help myself.


Matthew decorates (and undecorates) the tree. No matter what he does, we find him adorable!


Georgia poses near the tree, next to her favourite ornament, a pink ballerina that Auntie Sophie gave her for Christmas last year.

Uncle Fran, Dad and Monte decorate the big Christmas tree outside Nanny and Gramps' house. Georgia was fascinated when the lights went on. She stood and stared for a while, then danced and sang for the tree. Gorgeous!

Nanny reads a few Christmas stories to Georgia.

A hot and curly-haired Matthew eats his dinner. And the mozzies ate him, but he doesn't complain.

Finally, a view I will miss. This is of the tree above my parents' deck. I like to sit on the deck and look at this tree, which occasionally houses a koala. But, I am thinking that soon, I will create my own view from a deck. And that is very exciting.

I can't wait to have my own Christmas, with food from my own property. I hope to one day do my own ham! I want to make salads and lush vegie dishes from the food from my own vegie garden. I want to bake and cook in my big country kitchen, and decorate the Christmas tree in a sun-filled lounge.

For now, I will continue to pack boxes, wrap gifts, sort papers and clothes and try to relax, for I have just 26 days left in Adelaide and I want to survive them!

Playing Cars

If I get some time for just Matty and me, I like to play cars with my boy! Matthew is showing lots of interest in playing cars, although he does also like dolls and barbies. He loves blocks. He loves taking things apart and working out how they fit together. He wants to learn how everything works. He is great fun! Anyway, he and I were playing cars. It was great fun. I enjoyed it as much as he did.

Matthew and his new favourite toy, Thomas. Thomas is a pull back train, so he gets lost easily. Like asking d'Art "Where's the ball?" We ask Matty "Where's Thomas" and he gets excited. Note the cute navy sandals!
This is piglet in a helicopter. It makes a cool noise and the piglet spins around.
My favourite - bobble head fire engine. It used to run along when you pushed the bobble head, but it stopped doing that one day. Probably the cost of petrol.
Freaky-looking Scoop. A favourite, albeit a large toy that doesn't fit into the cars box. It makes a cool noise and is great for walking around with.
Here's little Thomas. His eyes roll around. Personally, that smile freaks me out. Nobody should be that happy!

One thing you may not know about this gorgeous lad is that he is very good at, and rather obsessed with brushing his teeth. This photo was taken just after he went to the bathroom cabinet, put toothpaste on his toothbrush, and began brushing away. This is a great shot of a little dress up that my dearest friend, Mandy, gave to Matthew. He's a little dinosaur, doing dinosaur things like reaching up to the kitchen sink to ... get stuff.

It was a warm day. Georgia and Frances wanted to go swimming. So we put them in their special swimming gear and they had a paddle in the new, big, white bath!

Finally, in the spirit of Christmas, Georgia and I baked some cookies today. I iced and she decorated. Very clever! Note the "Alien" which is the star with a big eyebrow (blue jellybean) and the special man with blue shoes. It almost makes me feel guilty eating them, when they are all assigned special characters! Think they look deliciously, sickly sweet? They are!

For an update on our property in Geeveston go to http://gettingdowntoearth.blogspot.com/

Christmas Pageant

Today mum and I took Georgia to the Christmas Pageant. It was great fun! It was a very warm day and we did lots of walking, but everything was worth the excitement to be seen on my daughter's face.

Christmas is about Jesus being born, but to me, what makes Christmas extra exciting is the happiness found through children, and I love making Christmas special for my children. I remember my parents making Christmas magical for me, and I hope to do the same for Georgie and Matty.

Georgia at Mum and Dad's house, before leaving for the "Christmas Thingy"
Georgia, with flag, at the pageant
Georgia and mum (nanny), inspecting the booklet to see what floats will be in the pageant
Excitement on a child's face as the parade begins
A happy girl, enjoying the paradeGeorgia and mum at the pageant. Both beaming!

In other news :) we are now booked to move to Tasmania on December 30. We are going earlier than we originally thought because Monte wants to celebrate his birthday and the New Year on our block. We are finishing up the work on our house before putting it on the market at the end of this month (fingers crossed). We are really excited. Bring it on!

Matty and Georgie in their stripes. Happy together as usual!

Matty and mum having a cuddle and a giggle before bed

Matthew is really walking/running now and is being a 'real boy' in that he is playing ball and cars and all those things that boys like to do. He also enjoys reading books and drawing, and is very content. He is really happy :)

Georgia turns Four!

Singing 'Happy Birthday' to Georgia - she beamed the whole time!

I love being Georgia's mother!
We started the day with presents,
after which Georgia and I went out together to get our hair cut.

I have been a mother for four years now. Most of what I do as a parent comes naturally - the rest is a bit of trial and error. One thing is for sure - my first child is a dream (so is my second, but this post is about Georgia). It is fun and easy to be the mother of this pearl.

Today we gave Georgia some presents and a party to celebrate her fourth birthday. The party was a wonderful success. The girls played beautifully and the adults drank champagne and chatted happily. It was a lovely lovely day and the last guests left after 7 pm - the true signs of a great party! Thank you to Chris and Lori, for you lovely company and for helping to clean up! Thank you to my mum, for helping me in the morning, and for helping me ice the cakes. Your words of wisdom and encouragement are dear to me.

A serious moment as the cake is eaten

The family

Georgia and Matty opening presents in the morning - Matthew was most interested! He kept sayng "Ahhh" whenever Georgia opened something

Pretty cupcakes, thanks to mum, who helped! Very girly!

The butterfly cake. Again, thanks to mum who helped! And again, very girly. Could we have it any other way? Not with our Georgia (and me!)

The party girl

Four years ago, at 1:10pm, an 8lb baby girl was born. She was ruddy, had good lungs and was the prettiest, best behaved baby on the ward - and that's what the experts were saying! The parents were new at the whole thing; the father was ecstatic, his eyes gleaming, and the mother was tired yet in disbelief at her 3 hour labour! No drugs, no stitches - just a good long bath and three pushes (hah - makes it sound almost enjoyable!). And there was Georgia - squeaking and hiccupping through the night, her mother unable to sleep for fear of missing a precious moment of her new daughter's life.

And now here's Georgia. Auburn hair, blue eyes and porcelain skin. She is tall and slender and she loves dancing and singing. She loves abundantly and is generous with kisses and hugs. She smiles all the time - how happy we are to have such happy children!

Today I am celebrating my daughter. For when she came into my lie, I learned the things that are important, and she taught me to live and love.

First Day

Georgia, ready to go to kindy on her first day

Georgia had her first day of kindergarten today! She started pre-entry, and she was very excited. She started off by doing some puzzles. She is very good at puzzles, but she was telling me that she was feeling shy. She wanted her Simpsons figurine to keep her company. She warmed up when she saw her friend Grace, and got very excited when she saw the computer! When I left, she was playing a 'Finding Nemo' game with Anthony and Grace, and she didn't need her Simpsons toy anymore, so I put it in her bag as I left.

I got a report from the director as well. When I brought Georgia in, he told me hat she is "great, capable and confident." It certainly is to Georgia's advantage that she has been going to occasional care at the centre for 2 years now.

I'm so proud of her, being so grown up!

Another Tassie Trip

Georgia and me at Hartz National Park

Monte and Matthew at the lookout at Hartz Mountains, overlooking Wellington Gorge

Matty outside Big W in Kingston. The largest in the Sth Hemi. We were having a donut after picking up Amelia from school.

Amelia and Matty grew a special bond; they love eachother

Harry and Georgia also grew close in the time we stayed with the Smiths. She loved getting up to mischief with this gorgous, darling little boy

The Tulips at the tulip festival

Milly and Georgia, ready to hear a fairy story in the fairy cave

Milly and Georgia, looking for flower fairies after the fairy story. It was so much fun; they are so sweet!

SNOW on Hartz mountains. In October. There is SO much water, particularly in the south. The Hartz national park is a short drive from where we will be living soon.

My hunk of spunk cooking a BBQ lunch at the hut at the lookout at Hartz national park. There was an open fire and an excellent views.

Our most recent Tassie adventure was very busy and very productive. We bought a 23 acre block of land. It consists of good pastures and 5-6 acres of rainforest. There is power and water supplied but we will need to organise more. We have been in touch with the builder and we are planning our home before starting to build early in 2009. The land has a beautiful view. You can read more about it at www.gettingdowntoearth.blogspot.com

We stayed with ben and Jill again. The children played beautifully. we really feel like family, except better than that because we are also friends. The children play like friends/cousins/siblings, which means fun and the odd bickering. They were very busy and were always tired at the end of the day.

A highlight of the trip was going to the Tulip Festival at the Botanic Gardens. It was fun. There were lots of activities for the children. The flowers were so beautiful. I had fun taking the girls to the fairy cave, where they heard fairy stories and looked at fairy treasures. The girls got fairy wishes and fairy sparkles, and afterwards we looked for fairies in the tulips. I thought I saw one but it was a bee. The other girls didn't see any either.

The other highlight was visiting Hartz National Park, which is very close to where we'll be living. We saw snow on the mountains. Sometimes there was snow on Mt Wellington too, which is near Kingston, where we were staying. At Harts NP we went to a lookout after having a nice sausage sizzle. We saw Keogh Falls and looked over Wellington Gorge. It was a lovely family day.

We feel like we had a very productive time in tassie. Georgia is enrolled in a lovely little Catholic school, not far down the road. School in Tassie starts in Kinder, so she will have a uniform and all. The staff know I am a teacher and have suggested I come in to be their relief teacher! We've also done other important stuff, like open a local bank account and get a PO Box. We met the mayor and his Dep, and had a little chat about our plans. The town is a lovely place and the townsfolk are lovely. There are lots of tree-changers there, and they all say it was the best decision they ever made, to move there.

There is so much Water in Tassie. Flying over, you see many many dams, flowing rivers etc. It was quite wet when we there there. It is different being back here, where it 'rained' about 10 drops this morning.