Animal Farm

Feeling happy!

Me and MG at Dover beach on Aussie Day. I now know where Georgia gets her gorgeous hair from!

"look at mummy! doesn't she look funny" (ha ha) - lovely kiddies giggling

Bonnydoon - serene despite ol' Genny* running on Jerry's** good juice. We have names for everything now. This is how we manage with all this *time*. I say this as I listen to Georgia's sleeping breaths and Genny's low rumble. Little Lucy nibbles at my toes and her soft dark curls tickle my feet.


Let's talk about animals.

Richard aka Dickie aka Fabio

Giddy - daughter of Anna - lovely natured goatAnna - mother of Giddy - lovely natured but a tad skittish

Georgia with Lucy-lou - Cavilky puppy age 9 weeks

We are pleased to welcome to Bonnydoon some bonnie lasses and a handsome lad. Anna and Giddy are two (dairy) goats who are currently chowing down on some thistles. They are eating our weeds before we put them to a buck so we can get some milk. I bought some goat soap on the weekend and that would be fun to make. Handsome Richard (so named after the handsome Richard Gere) - aka Dickie is our cock-shaped alarm clock who crows at 6:20, 7:20 and 8:20am (we usually just ignore him and we wake up around 9am). He really is quite charming and roosts in a bush down in the forest. Today we acquired (bought) some pullets from the most dodgy chicken farm (actually a free range farm but dodgy all the same) and Dickie is doing a funny mating dance for the two girls, who are not interested in him in the least. They are chickens like the last ones we had (bitsas) and no, there are no plans to eat these ones - perhaps we shall eat the sons when they are around 15 weeks old. Want to come for roast chook?

Lucy-Lou (Lucy) is my new Cavilky pup. She is a cross between a cavalier and a silky. She is very sweet and affectionate and fun. I'm already training her. It's a bit odd that we got the farm dog when we lived in suburbia and the lap dog when we arrived on the farm, but since when have I been normal? My plan for Lucy is to find a cavilky mate and breed the pair.

The house is coming along - at least we hope it is. The architect is working on the drawings and I am hoping and praying and being really good in the hope that the house might be ready by next winter because all the locals are telling us how very freezing it gets here. Our neighbour even showed us photos of the 2004 snows on our hills. Eeeek! Monte is lugging wood around the place in the hope of getting a collection ready by winter, but going by most of the neighbours' wood piles, we're way behind and will most probably have to endure the winter on a tropical island like Tahiti or something.

We are settling in well and we are so happy to have some chickens now. They really are very entertaining and Dickie just makes it even more amusing! The children are very happy. Georgia can't wait to start school in 2 weeks. I can't wait either! She needs the structure and the learning. She is doing a kindergarten level workbook at present and is working through very quickly. She's a bright spark like her father. Matthew is really cheeky and finds everything funny. He is being particularly gorgeous and I am still feeding him 3-4 times a day. He is growing a lot and is quite tall and solid with a very cute face and a big smile and a cheeky laugh. He says "ta" repetively when he wants food, but if we have chips he yells "TA" in an agro tone because he is chip mad like his mum! must. not. eat. chips. or. drink. beer. (that's me, not Matty)

I am blissfully happy and excited about this life we have chosen. I love to sit at the table near my hillsy*** overlooking the hills and greenery and the cows. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity and I am really proud of mg who has taken everything in his stride. He seems able to do everthing and he knows so much! I am learning a lot too. So is Georgia - she drives up the driveway everyday.

SO much to say and so little time. It is late now so my incoherent rambling must come to an end.

Georgia cuddles up to Anna. Very sweet!

I wouldn't kiss the dog, it's just a pose. But I do find her very cute! My own little Ewok!

*generator
** jerry can of petrol

***hills hoist

Yay!

LOL for the first time in 3 weeks, we have internet up and running at home. No thanks to Telstra, whose wireless broadband doesn't support leopard! We installed a mac version of vista so we can be online. Monte's brother Chris has been a great help in sourcing info for us regarding internet and our power supply. You go man!

So, here I am at long last - internet widow for one. Blogging in the comfort of my own home too! Monte's chai tea has gone cold, and I miss our candlelit supper tonight! :(

I have no more to say; perhaps now people might catch me on ichat or skype! With the webcam on, I should attempt to fix up my relaxed appearance. Go trackies! Go messy hair! Go makeuplessness!

ciao x

Wow, I didn't mean to look glum when this photo was taken. I remember it was bright, and I was mesmerised by the views and the clouds. No, really, I AM happy! In actual fact, yesterday I had an epiphany. I sat on a blanket alone, looking over the hills (in backgound of this pic) and thought to myself that I live in the best possible spot on the planet!

Update

Possibly the best picture I have ever taken. Matthew is a real country feller in his overalls, with his trusty companion d'Artagnan.



When we arrived at the property, the first thing we did was walk the top perimeter. That's everybody, including the cat.

It was Monte's birthday the day we arrived. We celebrated midnight with a cake and some Moet! And yes, Georgia did stay up late.

Monte is building a power station. Here, the children are thinking that it is a cubby house, but in actual fact, their cubbyhouse will be down in the next paddock, under (or in) a 150 year-old blackwood tree!

This is me on the day we arrived. I am standing in front of my very own forest. It is divine.



We are thrilled that we sold our house at the price we wanted at auction last weekend. We are looking forward to getting things moving with the building of our new house. I'm sure it will take time! Life is good. We are very happy. In a moment we will go for a little drive in the country. It's all so relaxing and peaceful here, although cows are quite noisy!

Finally an Update!

Ok, so we're here in Tasmania. We don't have internet at home yet. Actually, we have the internet, but the internet doesn't support Mac OS10.5 yet, so poo to Telstra. We're all sitting in the local online centre, which is very flash. Georgia is playing games and Matthew is feeding a baby dolly with a toy bottle!

I have SO much to say. I just don't have the time to do it. So I will use lists at this stage.

Highlights:

• evening cups of tea by candlelight with my husband, as we debrief the day etc
• rigging up the coffee machine and enjoying my two lattes before I can function
• sleep ins! Don't know why or how, but we all sleep in till about 8:30-9:00!
• Outdoor dining. We have two set-ups - one for cool days and one for warmer days.
• Beautiful cool-warm weather
• Seeing friends the Smiths a few times a week
• Our views!
• Getting to know cows. They are pretty cool!

Lowlights:

none, except for poor phone reception, no internet, no tv. But these are not really lows! They're not even inconvenient!

What we have done on the 'cabin.'

• cleaned a lot!
• put in a toilet
• putting in a kitchen sink
• set up our furniture - it is all comfortable and feels like home. Washing and dishes etc are all easy and it's going really well.
• We have set the bus up as a playroom - very cool - and have put the leather lounges in there too. It's comfy enough.

How the land is doin':

• We're getting in cows soon to chew the grass down.
• We planted a vege patch but wallabies and rabbits ate the lettuce (no derr)
• We've planted citrus, olives, avocado and some other fruit trees

The house:

We've met the architect and it's coming along. We've chosen the house site. It's going to be a big house! I am loving the smaller cabin but more rooms will be good so we can fit in more kids and more books! We've opted out of strawbale for several reasons and we will be using hebel blocks on a waffle-pod foundation.

How we are all feeling:

We're all feeling great. I am really happy but I have certainly had a few flat days, when it seems a bit hard to unpack everything and settle in. I think I miss working but am too busy to consider it at this stage. Monte is loving the hard work and he is losing weight and looking fantastic! He's really tanned and is making me feel so happy. He is going out of his way to make a home for us all. Georgia is tanned too; my little porcelain girl is going brown. She loves the farm and the dog. She is helpful around the farm. She follows Monte around and helps him as much as possible. She loves putting things away and helping me with the jobs too. Matty is gorgeously happy too. His hair is getting long and is very curly. He is talking a lot. He plays very nicely. We're all a bit nervous about the auction tomorrow but we are assuming all will go well. We are also all excited about meeting our new baby girl "Lucy" who is going to be either a border collie or a king charles cavelier spaniel!

TTFN (tata for now!)

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.