I AM IN LOVE

Hi Family Mick here... sorry no pictures
I have heard 'that there are as many forms of love as there moments in time'
I know Brooke and I have only been married 3 and a half months but I fall more and more in love with her every day as I see the many forms of our relationship developing and growing.
Let me tell you why:

After we dropped girls to my mum’s for babysitting, we went home and did some gardening. I was mowing the grass and Brooke was spraying the weeds like a trooper. I was a bit upset when she declined my request to do it without a shirt, like me. You can’t win them all. I love you wookie for helping me as I know it is hard work and hot and dealing with chemicals but you were awesome.

We went to a 1 act-play reading night at the local theatre and Brooke told me after she would much rather write instead of act. I love Brooke how you follow your passions and know what you want. It was awesome to hear your creative mind overflowing with ideas and brilliance.

Sunday afternoon, after watching "Shakspeare in love" while I was on a secret 'black opps' mission Brookie started singing some opera. It was so soothing and made me feel I was in a James bond movie defeating the enemy. Lucy at first was annoyed but then realised she wanted to try as well. Sure enough I could hear these most angelic voices coming from the other room. I could not tell who was who. Low and behold Lucy has got talent. So Brooke then got really excited and started to teach her to sing. They viewed on YouTube the 'defying gravity' song from wicked and they were singing and teaching. It was awesome. Brooke I love how you have passion to help your girls and want them to be there best. You have so much talent to share it made me so happy to hear.

Finally as Sunday night was getting on Brooke decided to try to make a yummy cake from her new recipe book. At first she was struggling with the Australian conversions. And I was saying to her it is ok honey just don’t worry. Now with Brooke at the moment being the bare Brooke, she said 'NO, I want to do this. I have to finish this'. So an hour later with her going back and forth to Google for support she finally raised victorious. I was so excited and amazed at her strength. Brooke you are the strongest, determined lovable person I know. You have left me loving you in forms I have never dreamed I could. My love for you grows and deepens every day. Thank you for loving me and giving your love to me. Thank you and I love you.  

I Love My Dirty Rotten Scoundrel

        
 Ok so I just had to post about this... One of the things I just adore about my husband is his wonderful sense of humor and how often he makes me laugh.  A few weeks ago I introduced Mick to one of my all time favorite movies "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels".  He loved it of course as I knew he would.... So a few days later as I walked into the living room I found my husband crawling across the floor just like Steve Martin does in the movie moaning "They're dancing!  They're dancing!".... Ah I love you Mick....

Ahhh I love this man...

Fanny Eubanks of Omaha...

"Can I take your trident Sir?"

Oh My Gosh! The Difference!

             Ok... so as I was on my computer today trying to figure out something to blog about, as I had promised my mom I would... I began to find some old photos of when I had first moved here and I began to remember how it was when we had all been crammed into Mick's tiny little apartment.  Wow... five girls... two adults.... just eating a meal there was... well hell.  Often times when we are heading home in our van full of kids I often reflect on how incredibly grateful I am that we are heading home to a place with so much more space for the kids to spread out... ah... counting my blessings.  And so in honor of this I thought I would post some before and after photos for you all to enjoy...

eating a meal: Before

Eatin a meal: After



Watching a movie together: Before



Watching a movie together: After.... ah the difference!

Ohhhh Kay.... C'mon Visa C'mon School!

Lucy and Esther playing at the mall... I think they really were trying to get to school...

                                     

    So it has been a long and grueling process to say the least, but I think we are hopefully nearing the end of our process ot apply for our permanent visa's.  Lucy and Esther have been out of school now for 9 months!  And as their mom I must admitt that my patience has been worn thin and bare... and my anxiety about their brains turning into mush has been growing.  I have reached a point of acceptance however and have even found days when I have actually enjoyed our time together trying to keep up through "homeschool" with what they should be learning.  I am by no means a proper teacher so it has been quite worrisome to say the least, but I have tried my best.  Only a few more months let's all hope.  Their uniforms are bought, they know what a "tuck shop" and "lou" are so I think they are ready...

All ready and looking the part.

Homeschool

Out Into the Great Blue

     So these are just some quick pictures of last weekend.  We went out swimming at this really cool place where when the tide comes in it fills up this whole area that you can swim around in and lazily float.  It was a good day.

Me and the girls floating along

Ah Relaxing

These girls are so silly!  We looked over and saw them doing this...

Lucy practicing her balance for future surfing

Esther practicing her balance

Esther the dangerous mermaid

Lucy.  Hold your breath!!!

Darling it's better down where it's wetter... take it from me...

Letting the waves take me.

Ten Things I Love About Him

My Vanlentine

       So in honor of it being Valentine's Day as well as my husband's birthday I wanted to write an entire post dedicated to him and only him.  And so this is where I commence my list of "Ten Things I Love About Him":

1. How he loves to learn new things.

           Mick is amazing and one of the first things that attracted me to him was his undenyable energy for life... It is contagious and when I am with him everything seems possible.  Mick it seems is always on the look out for the next fun thing to learn or do.  A few years ago it was Kite surfing, and now he is anxious and determined to learn how to snowboard.  Honestly snowboarding nor skiing is something I have ever really given much thought or interest... but this is the effect he has on me, for the first time in my life I am now thinking "sure, let's go for it!"

2. How he loves to Kite Surf

             As I mentioned already, I love how my sweatheart loves his kite surfing.  Really truley if he goes more than two weeks with out getting out on the open sea with the wind blowing through his kite he starts to feel a sense of restless aggitation.  I can see it when this happens, but what I love the most is how when the wind, weather, and tide are just right, and he is about to get to go out he becomes like a little boy bursting with so much excitment and energy that he can hardly hold still and he can't get out there fast enough.  When he's done he comes in happy and at peace and all is good in the world once again.

3.  How he loves our girls.

Mick with all our girls

             And I mean all our girls.  He is the most wonderful father and always cares so much about every child's well being and development.  Something that I'm sure makes him such a wonderful teacher as well.  When we take Lucy or Esther or Taylah to their music class, guitar class, or gymnastics class, he is the one who wants to be there for every moment to see what they are learning and how well they are doing.  He loves to make the girls laugh and have together time with the kids, and loves having family movie night.

4.  How he surprises me.
             I love surprises, so how on earth could I not love that Mick is always giving me little surprises and things to look forward to.  Like when he tells me and the kids that we need to get in the car, make sure we all have our togs because where we are going is a surprise.  Or such as today, for Valentine's Day I have no idea what he has gotten... but I get little clues.  Ah I love it.


5.  How he will watch girly movies with me.
             Now Mick, being a guy, does not readily enjoy watching "girly movies".  But since I have known him he has shown great love for me in taking the time to sit through many a film that has no action or explosives or special effects to watch something that instead is full of dialogue and romance and probably will make me cry at some point.


6.  How he cooks for me.
              Oh man what girl doesn't love a man that will cook for her!?  Yes I love it.  I love how I am almost never alone in that kitchen when I am cooking dinner, he is always by my side helping me or cooking the dinner for me.  Thank you.


Under the Sea with Lucy and Es



7.  How he says things like “far out”, “good on ‘im”, and “what should we have for tea?”

              Ah... life never gets boring when the man you love and live with has a cute, adorable, sexy accent that often accompanies adorable phrases that you have never heard before.

8.  How he notices my hair, or earrings, or perfume, or all three.

              That is a key to any guys out there reading this.  A woman loves it when you notice the effort she put in to look nice.  Mick is so sweet about this, when he has taken the time to simply tell me how he likes my earrings or how I did my hair, and I still have that perfume that wear and he says always smells and reminds him of Oregon where and when we met.

9.  How he loves to joke and tease and make me laugh. 
                I love this about him.  Sometimes it may come at the wrong moment and it maybe annoys me more than delights... but more than not it just makes me fall in love with him all over again.  And since I know I am the kind of person who tends to be more heavy and serious about the things of life it is priceless to have a man who always knows how to lighten things up and make me smile again.


10.  How he loves me.
                This ofcourse is the best of all.  Mick loves me and he tells me often.  And more than that, he shows me his love through his kindness, his forgiveness when I make a mistake or act like a fool, and his committment to our life together.  I love you Michael Travis.  Happy Birthday, and Happy Valentine's Day.

Come to Australia... You Might Accidentally Die!

            So as I have been here in Australia I have seen my fare share of critters... Many in my own home, and surprisingly none when I went out camping... but plenty if I dare venture into my own backyard after the sun goes down.  Once as I sat in my mother-in-law's backyard talking I suddenly saw a huge creature of some kind run along the length of their fence... about the size of a cat... but most definitly NOT a cat... Yeah.  To this day I have no idea what that was.  This I realise is a common thing for my australian family and friends.  It certainly isn't middle america, and just when you begin to get comfortable and think... "hmm... this really isn't so different" you see a large tropical bird perched on a tree in your backyard, a big lizard climing up the side of your house...or you pick up your husband from work and hear the following story:
            Yesterday when I had picked up Mick from work he proceeded to tell me about how during the day when his schedule was free he had decided to go and clean off his desk.  Apparently it had become horribly cluttered over the past six months and was quite full of all sorts of things.  He had been working at it for a while and was finally clearing off the back layer of items when to his surprise he was greeted by a huge snake!  It ofcourse scared him pretty bad.  He went to get the school grounds keeper, who apparently is also a bit of a "snake-rangler".... something that I assume is a requirment for any "grounds keepers" in Australia... hahahah...  Anyway, long story short, they had to call in an expert to remove the snake as the grounds man was not able to identify it.  In the end it turns out that it was a brown-tree python.

A picture of the kind of snake that was on his desk... fun fun fun.