Merry Christmas!

We're now in Shepp, Victoria - that's 3 states in 11 months and a baby! It's been lots of fun. Here's the girls, posing for their Christmas tree photos. Laura's kitted out in her new school uniform - she wants to know why her school (St Brendan's) is named after our friend Brendan!

Marisa Crawling!!!

You even get to hear her giggle - Enjoy!

Filmed - 10/4/07

It's been a while . . .

I thought I was slack last time!! Finally here are some photos for all of you. I've handed in the first round of uni assignments and we've been down in Victoria with Andy's family for the school holidays (I forgot my camera!!). While we were away Marisa learnt to crawl, wave, say Mumma, Bubba & Dadda AND grew her first 2 teeth! A busy time for her. She's also had a throat and ear infection (1st) and now has croup (1st time). Despite all of this she is still the happiest baby I've ever known and because of this I never realise how sick she actually is! I need her to get grumpy when she's not well!
Here goes - some photos to catch you all up.

I found a way to entertain Laura and Marisa when I'm doing the washing!

Aunty Kate went overseas and sent the girls outfits from Portugal (Marisa) and Morocco (Laura). Notice Marisa smiling - this is about an hour before I took her to the doctor and she was diagnosed with double ear and throat infection!
Peek-a-boo!
My beautiful eagle! Costume made at Maridahdi (school).
Happy 30th Jen!

Thanks for the bag girls - I love it - Laura says its big enough for me to fit "soooo much stuff in it".

Marisa and Laura with Asha - she was so comfy with them she fell asleep. In Ballarat on holidays.

Marisa takes after Dad and has a snooze on the lounge.

Don't be fooled by my smile - I'm really sick with croup!! Just can't keep the girl down, she wanted to pose for a few photos to show off her newly discovered crawling abilities.


I'll try and blog again soon but I've got 2 assignments and a move to Shepparton, VIC, coming up in the next 4 weeks. We'll see how we go!!

Love Jen.

xoxo

Birthdays & Holidays

It's been a busy time and I've been a bit of a slack Blogger lately. I've just started my Masters in Education (Library) and I'm pretty busy. Really should be studying now, but . . . well there's always an excuse and I wanted to keep you all up to date.

Here's Laura with Samuel - her friend from school - and his sister Bree, they all have LOTS of fun together.

Can you see the similarity???

Aunty Kate's been knitting again - this hat was meant for Laura but ended up (nearly) fitting Marisa - we think she looks like a French baby wearing it.

Aunty Kate is super and knitted a matching hat for Laura in a bigger size! Laura also got the jacket and scarf for her birthday. Very handy in what is proving to be a COLD Toowoomba Winter.

Laura is now a big 5 year old girl. She had joint birthday dinner party with Aunty Weeza at our house.

The Birthday Girls!!!

Laura chose Marisa's outfit for the party - she thinks she looks like the most beautiful baby in the world with this dress on.

Laura's Hula outfit was a huge hit on her birthday.

We've also had a holiday to the "Worlds" - MovieWorld & SeaWorld with Lou & Pat and Deb & Matt. We had a ball. Laura wasn't quite brave enough for the big rides (although the big people certainly enjoyed them!) but there were still lots of fun things for her to do. It's feeling VERY cold back in Toowoomba after a few warm days on the coast.
I'm thinking I shouldn't have stood next to Wonder Woman - I'm looking very not Wonderish!

Laura's favourite ride - driving her own car. I think she came into her own on the 4th go when she started overtaking other kids on the corners!

Marisa's Baptism

We had a wonderful day last Sunday. It was Marisa's Baptism and she was very lucky to have her grandparents and godparents - Lou & Pat - all come along. Lou and Pat are in their new house now and all of our visitors have left so it's feeling very quiet at the "Mannardi's" house again.
Here are some Baptism Day photos and some other recent ones - as you can see Marisa continues to grow very quickly.
PS. We now have a webcam so if you do too and you're hooked up to Skype, let us know and we can have a chat. mannardi@bigpond.com

My Girls . . .

Best Friends! Laura and Ace wear eachother out quite happily.

Never seen Laura run so much.

Marisa's favourite toy bunny - you can see she loves eating it!

Last Saturday there was a story in the local paper saying that the Toowoomba Fairy Shop had had its fairy bear stolen. Fairy Bear sat just outside the shop for all of the kids to hug. Yesterday Laura wrote a letter and drew a picture for Queen Fairy Mandy and this morning she brought me her plainest bear and wanted to make it into a fairy bear for the Fairy Shop. So I sewed a fairy costume in 1/2 an hour flat and by the time we got to the fairy shop she'd decided her once plain bear was much to fancy to give away and it has become her new favourite!

I must have commented to Laura that I can't sew very well and wasn't sure how I'd make fairy wings and she told me (as I've told her about things a number of times) - "Just keep doing it every day and you'll get really good at it Mummy!"

Funny Times!

Laura the Clown - those face paints are still going down a treat; though this clown is slightly spooky looking!

Aunty Weeza is now in Toowoomba staying at our house - Laura is very excited to have Weeza, Pat and Ace in Toowoomba with us.
The girls hanging out on the lounge. Marisa loves your rings Aunty Helen.
Queen Laura with Princess Tiana

(I don't think she had to hold Cyril down for too long to get him looking royal!)

Laura and Marisa - Both girls are growing quickly up here in QLD - must be the fresh air on the top of this mountain. It's been getting cooler and it's very cozy for the girls watching ABC kids together in the mornings.
My new email address is mannardi@bigpond.com.au - love to hear from you.

Nan & Papa

The girls had a ball spending time with Nan & Papa and can't wait for their next visit.

The Girls' Adventure in Sydney!

I recently took Marisa and Laura to Sydney to see all of the family. We had a great time catching up with everyone we miss so much and Marisa seemed to get a lot of enjoyment out of meeting everyone.

Marisa with her Aunties - Deb, Lou & Helen

Two very happy girls with Pa
Nanny & Laura
Karen & Michelle with Marisa
Aunty Marg & Uncle Steve with a sleeping Princess

Mystery Flight Weekend to Adelaide

We finally used the overnight Mystery Flights we won back in December. We only found out where we were going the day before we left. Marisa came with us and Laura stayed with our friends in Toowoomba - the whole family enjoyed their weekends!

Adelaide was great - our fave spots were Glenelg, Semaphore beach and the Barossa.

For all of you Simon and Maggie (The Cook & the Chef) fans out there - this kitchen should look very familiar. It's a lot smaller in real life than it looks on TV.

This is Maggie Beer's "Farm Shop" - it's a beautiful setting with scrumptious food to taste. Well worth a visit if you're ever in the Barossa.

I finally got to see a sunset over the ocean and it was just gorgeous. I know nothing can beat a NSW beach - however, the beaches off the Adelaide Coast have the most spectacular soft white sand I've ever seen.