Keep on keepin' on...

(This is the second of 2 blogs in 2 days- must be a record, huh? If you haven't seen the one below this, read that first- 'On the road again')

Hello, all! Mom here. Things have certainly been hectic since we arrived here in Fort Worth. After driving around and looking at at least 12 houses, we found the one we're in and snatched it up since it wasn't in the ghetto and didn't cost too incredibly much per month! The day we moved in, the movers brought our air shipment and stuff I had in storage since I moved to Australia, Daniel came home from work and we started unpacking and working out what we were sleeping on, etc. It was a few days later that we discovered a little gift the previous owner had left for us--- fleas. Oh, yes, for those of you who have been unfortunate enough to have had fleas in your house, you know it's not fun. After lots of vacuuming, doing foggers 3 times and a professional pest control flea spray (paid for by the home owner), 2 weeks later we were free of fleas. We had a problem with pet hair in my used car as well, so several people have joked that with the car pet hair issue and fleas, our children are not getting pets for a long time. VERY true. If anyone buys us a pet (other than maybe a fish) for Christmas or a birthday or something, you might just find yourself with a new pet. =)

The house is great for a rental. We live right on a corner which turns out to be a pretty busy street, though you wouldn't know it as it is just a regular street through a neighborhood. Both of the girls' rooms are on that side of the house so I think the cars sometimes wake Carly up at night and she ends up in with us. Thankfully Daniel convinced me that we should get a King size bed! Every time we have had both girls in bed with us I have been very thankful for the extra room. We have a garage but it's currently pretty full of boxes from both shipments/storage. We received our sea shipment a bit earlier than we expected it- about 2 weeks ago now. Yes, we still have a few boxes to go through...things take at least 4 times longer with kids, I tell ya. We are on the West side of Fort Worth so we are a bit over an hour from Daniel's family on the Dallas side. If anyone wants our address, just email us at jenhenderson1@hotmail.com and I will give you all of our new info.

A few days after we moved into our new place, Kate had her 4 month checkup and immunizations (she was about 4.5 months by then). Kate definitely didn't enjoy the shots but I found it even more heart wrenching as in Australia they combine the shots so at Carly's 4 month I think she got 2 and here Kate got 5 separate shots...ouch. They pronounced her to be in good health, she weighed 14 pounds 13 ounces (6.72 kilos) and was 25 inches long (63.5cm). At about the same age, Carly was 16 pounds 3 ounces and 26 inches long but Kate definitely has more hair than Carly did (though she had a fair amount herself). If you want to take a trip down memory lane, take a look at the photo album from when Carly was about 4 months old.

Daniel really likes his job at Apex Capital Corporation. He is doing development with a team of guys he gets along with well. We live about 5 minutes from work so he leaves just a bit before 8am and he is usually home by 5.30. He likes the way the company works, the co-owners, the people he works with and is slowly sorting out all of the different systems he needs to know everything about! They have not expected too much too quickly but are also giving him responsibility so it's a good mixture. He is going through a course they put all employees through- Factoring 101. Apex provides capital to truckers through 'factoring'...I don't fully get it myself and I think most people don't...I guess that's why they have all employees go through Factoring 101! It's several hours 2 days a week for 6 weeks. He should be a walking encyclopedia on factoring by the time he is done. Maybe he can at least explain it to me. =)

We have had a few setbacks along the way...I thought I broke my wrist the other week but found out it was just a Ganglion cyst that had popped out (thank goodness) when I ran into the wall (yes, I am full of grace). It's pretty sore but not a broken bone! Kate has had oral thrush but thankfully we already had a pediatrician from her 4 month checkups so that has been a breeze to get medicine. Kate continues to have many of the colic symptoms that Carly had as a baby. Some days are great while others include lots of crying. I find the juggling act between children is very challenging and patience-trying at times (very normal, I know).

My mom was able to come down for the weekend July 4th. We had originally planned on her driving down and bringing us some furniture we have at her house, but when the truck and moving guys, etc wound up getting too pricey, we just opted for a visit instead. We will all drive up to KC in the next couple of months for a visit and to get our stuff. I think Daniel will drive back the car with trailer attached and the girls and I will fly back after a few days. We have seen Daniel's family multiple times and so far have not made the trip over to Dallas with both girls as they have all come to us in Fort Worth. Thank you! I think we will go over sometime in the next couple of weeks for a couple of days.

Carly and Kate have done SO well through this whole transition. Carly has really gone with the flow. We have seen a few behavioral thing come up (she learned the word 'tantrum' yesterday) but it's only been a few times. And I know that challenging behavior sometimes just comes with being 2 1/2! She makes me laugh on a daily basis and her imagination is amazing. Yesterday she pretended that this little ball on a post of the day bed was a head. He had a headache so she put her necklace around 'him', saying it was a band aid. And she also gave him a lecture about being more careful outside and he wouldn't get any boo boos. I thought it was pretty random, but she IS Daniel's child so that's not a huge surprise. =) Carly pretends she is going shopping with her little cart/trolley, asks me what I want at the store, etc. Sometimes I 'go' with her and she tells me to look both ways for cars. She is obsessed with shorts with pockets in them. She enjoys putting her treasures in there or stealing change from my wallet to save for a rainy day. And she is really into taking pictures with our camera (I have posted several 'Carly pics').

Kate is such a happy baby, as long as she does not have tummy pain. I cannot believe she is almost 6 months old! While it does feel like she has been around for a long time, the time has also flown in many ways. Kate sleeps on her tummy, by herself in her crib most of the time (Carly was in our bed for AGES so this is a novelty). She can make tracks across the room in a very short amount of time, it's just going in the backwards direction! I think she will crawl soon. She likes to 'talk' a lot lately and she likes the little jumper/play center we borrowed from our friends Brian and Natalie (and baby Jake). I'm pretty certain her first tooth will come in sometime in the next week or so. She is such a drooler at the moment and is chewing on everything. We have started to smooth her hair to one side because if it's straight down it's so long it gets in her eyes! She LOVES Carly and enjoys bonding with her by rolling around with her on the floor, pulling her hair, drooling on her, etc.

Carly is usually very kind to Kate. She is excited to see her when she wakes up in the morning or has a nap. She says, 'Hi, hugh dubai' (cutie pie)! And when Kate pulls her hair she just says, 'No, hugh dubai'! When we were driving around looking at houses and cars, etc Kate would often get upset and start crying. Daniel started singing 'Twinkle Twinkle little star...' and Kate would calm down. So now whenever Kate gets upset Carly begins singing Twinkle Twinkle... sometimes at the top of her lungs. Sometimes it actually succeeds in Calming Kate down and sometimes she cries louder. I wonder why. Carly loves to dance around to make Kate laugh and is a good little helper, giving Kate toys and putting her pacifier/dummy back in her mouth if she's upset. Probably the biggest change for Carly is not seeing all the familiar people in her life and playing with her friends every couple of days or even every day. She is such a social kid that I think she has gone through a bit of withdrawl.

I took the girls to a Summer session of Kindermusik, a music and dance class that we did a while ago back in Alice, and Carly loved that. It also gave us an opportunity to meet some other moms and kiddos, who we have since gotten together with about once a week. There are a few other people I have met along the way who are very lovely and welcoming. I have certainly felt the change, not having familiar people we could just go hang out with. It's already August so we only have another month or so for swimming but we will get out there a few times hopefully. We were used to hot days in Alice but here it's hot AND humid, which is a really disgusting combination that is taking some getting used to.

Life has pretty much been at full speed for at least 6 months now with Kate being born, preparation for moving, moving, finding cars, place to live, etc, but we are starting to get a bit more settled. We definitely miss Australia, our friends, our church, our home, etc, but we believe that this is where God has us for now so we know we will adjust and it's very nice to be closer to family. This time I have included some pictures but I have a backlog of videos to cut down/edit and get out there so stay tuned! Enjoy the most recent pics for now!

On The Road Again...

Hello, everyone! Carly here! I thought I would pick up where Mom left off in our big trip.

First of all, this trip went on forever. I mean, I kind of like planes and meeting new people and getting different yummy things to eat but there is really only so much traveling that one can enjoy, right?! Oh well...

After rushing to get on the plane in Sydney, we settled in to our seats for the flight. I thought it was pretty cool that I didn't have to be in a car seat this time! I got my very own seat all to myself! I had a little tv and I watched some cartoons and ate dinner. I slept for a while, ate some breakfast and then we were in LA. I did hear Kate cry a few times but I think we all had a little bit of sleep (that's good, 'cause no sleep makes Mom and Dad grumpy). We got off the plane and saw Brian again, went through customs and then waited for our luggage FOREVER. I was a little bit tired still but I really felt kind of goofy so I ran around like a silly goose (that's what Mom said), made some friends and made Kate laugh. We waited so long for our luggage that Brian missed his flight. There was lots of walking fast and talking with people and more walking fast then we said bye to Brian and he ran off. I guess he had to go somewhere very fast! We got all of our junk through security and hung out for another few hours before our flight to Dallas. Our flight was a bit of a hard and long one and we were all pretty tired but we made it to Dallas...only to get on ANOTHER plane for Georgia.

We finally got to Georgia, rode a bus and got a rental car. I snoozed for a little while on the drive to Great Grandma Moore and Uncle Marty's house but then I felt re-energized! Dad said it was 2am so I should go to sleep but my body didn't feel like it was 2am, it kind of felt like it was about 3.30 in the afternoon and I had just woken up from a nap. I think I went to sleep at about 7am and didn't wake up again until 4pm...that night I went to sleep at about 5.30am and woke at about 3.30pm the next day. The next couple of days were pretty rough but I finally started to sleep when everyone else wanted to sleep so that was good! I think Mom and Dad wanted me to sleep in the porta cot/crib but I had other plans...so I slept on the couch in the spare room (and then on the couch at Nana's and our hotel too). We had a great time visiting Great Grandma Moore and Uncle Marty. We stayed at the house and played games, colored and played on the piano and the keyboard, talked with GG and played with silly Uncle Marty. We went out to eat a few times and we even went to this place called Hollywood Connection, where they have all of these fun things to do. I had a fun time but then it was time to drive some more and get on another 2 planes to go to Kansas City.

We only had a few days in Kansas City but we sure packed a lot in! Dad and I played at the park while Mom had an eye appointment that first morning. We went swimming, played games (my fav is one where Nana and I hide in the closet then I leave and giggle all the way down the hall) and played with toys at Nana's house. We visited Grandpa, had some dinner and played. I particularly liked the bead curtain- it's a great place to hide and pop out of! Boo! We saw Great Grammy and Grandaddy, walked around their place and saw some ducks, met some nice people, ate some yummy crackers Grammy got for me and even played with some toys G&G got for me (the dancing rabbit is my favorite)! Then....you guessed it...it was time to get back on a plane again! But Mom and Dad told me it would be the last plane for a while, because we were going to go to our new home in Fort Worth. I wasn't really sure I wanted a new home...I liked our old one and kept asking Mom and Dad to go back there but they said we would have to take all those planes back!

We got to Dallas, found our bags and Brian and Papa (Dad's Dad) found us! We got in the car and drove to our hotel. There sure is a lot of driving here in the USA...at our old house it was 5 minutes to church and 5 minutes to the grocery store and 5 minutes to Kindergym...5 minutes anywhere! Our hotel was cool, I just didn't know it yet. We went out to dinner with Papa, Brian, Natalie and Baby Jake, went to this HUGE store called Wal-Mart then went to the hotel. The next day Aunt Summer, Uncle Josh and cousin Whitney came over and we played the day away at Whitney's Great Grandma's house nearby while Mom, Dad and Kate looked for a new house and some cars. The next few days Whitney, Summer and I went to the Zoo and a fun place with blow up things we could jump in. After that, Mom, Dad, Kate and I did LOTS of driving. Dad started his job and really liked it and then we moved out of the hotel and into our new place. I was not very happy to leave the hotel! They had yummy breakfast with cinnamon rolls, an elevator with buttons I could push, a pool and my couch too. But the new house has room to run around in so I figured it was ok.

Mom says we're just borrowing our new house for a while but two cars are ours to keep. I can't keep it all straight- adults are confusing sometimes! And people here say things weird, like 'playdate', and 'diaper' instead of 'nappy', and 'raisin' instead of 'sultana' but I'm getting used to it. I have made a few new friends but I really miss my old ones too. But I'm getting on with the business of being two and that keeps me pretty busy so it's ok. Well, I'm off to play now! Take a look at all of the pics! Big kisses to you all!

Oh The Places You'll Go...

Hey, it's Mom here! Well, on a friend's blog it says '2 months' since our last blog update. Could it really be THAT long? I mean, we have only packed up, traveled around the world, visited friends, found a rental house and 2 cars, Daniel started his new job....we really have been slacking, haven't we? I invite you to grab a coffee/water/Coke/your beverage of choice and maybe a snack too, sit back and walk through the last couple of months with me...this is going to be a long one!

After the last blog everything really started getting into motion! We had our combined lawn sale with some friends at our house. We got rid of the majority of our things and generally had a good time since 4 of our friends came to sell their stuff too! Carly's friends Nate and Laney were there for a little while at different times so she was thoroughly entertained, even though she was not quite sure why about 50 people descended on our driveway in about a 30 minute period of time! This was our second lawn sale in Alice Springs and they are something of a legend. They start sometime around 7 or 8am and only go for a few hours or until you feel like shutting up shop. We 'started' at 8am but people were arriving at 6.30 and almost everyone was gone by 8. We could have said 'no sales before 8am' but then we might not have sold our stuff, so we just had to suck it up!

That next week (6 weeks before leaving), I got in a fender bender backing out of my friends' (June, Craig, Sawyer, Grayson) driveway. We just didn't have enough going on at the time so I thought I would spice things up. I was backing out, looked both ways and continued backing out when I realized there was some pretty loud crunching of metal and my car had slowed significantly! The only thing I can figure is that he was in my blind spot at the precise moment I looked. We were all fine though a bit shaken. The other guy's car was totally fine but my poor car had not fared so well. One side of the back bumper was dragging on the ground, the trunk was all dented in and would not close and instead of a 'protege' it was now just a 'rotege' 'cause the 'p' had been a casualty of the accident. June and Craig came outside and took the girls in while I talked with the guy I hit (he was totally not worried about his car). Sawyer and Carly were happy to have more time to play and June made sure I was all ok while Craig taped up the 'blue car'. It looked pretty ghetto by the time he was done with duck tape...I think he secretly enjoyed decorating the car! We filed a claim with insurance and got a couple of quotes to get it fixed. The main quote came back at $7,500 to fix the car, but the car was only worth about that much. It took the whole rest of the time we were there (up until the day we left) for everything to come through. They wound up writing off the car and writing us a check, which was the best outcome considering the circumstances.

The prep for moving was pretty monumental, as it always is. Several of our beautiful friends looked after Carly a few times so we could get stuff done around the house in preparation for moving and after that for cleaning. Thankfully, Raytheon paid for our stuff to be packed or it would have been total insanity. The movers came bright and early Tuesday morning, worked the whole day, came back Wednesday morning and finally left at about 5.30pm that day. The house was pretty full of boxes and then very empty feeling! A few times when the guys were packing, Carly exclaimed 'that's my toy!' or something similar but she listened and at least tried to understand when we told her they were just putting it away for us for a while and we would get it back. We walked into the house after being gone for half of the day and Carly just looked around and exlaimed 'whoa! lots of boxes!' Kate did well with the whole thing, of course. She was still very transportable and slept a fair amount of the time which made it not too bad. Certainly, packing up and moving overseas is not something I would recommend to someone else with a 2 1/2 year old and a 3 month old!

The next day we went to our friend Rachel's 1st birthday party at the Telegraph Station and then we started cleaning for our final inspection of the house. We cleaned and cleaned and cleaned then worked for hours out in the yard to pull weeds, mow, weed eat, trim bushes, etc. On Sunday (the inspection was Monday) we realized we were going to need help and got a couple of the young men from church around to help us (thanks Josiah and Jono)! The yard probably looked better than it ever had before and the house was pretty spotless. Of course, Monday morning we were taking one last look and realized Carly had colored on the wall with pen in a few places. Why did she have to pick the morning of our inspection to color on the wall for the first time!? We got the pen off with time to spare and passed the inspection with no problems at all. We breathed a huge sigh of relief after that was done, 'cause even though we were still living in the house for 2 weeks, we didn't have to clean again or mow or anything. Yay!

We slowly met with friends to say farewell and had friends come 'shop at the Hendersons' to get rid of food from our pantry, toiletries and cleaning supplies that could not be packed. We took our other car in for service before selling it to our friend Cliff. We celebrated with our friends Beth and Hermes on their engagement. Our friend Brian Carlgren arrived from the USA on May 15th. Qantas had some tickets that were much cheaper than normal so he booked a ticket to come over while we were still there and to help us travel back with all of our junk in tow. Brian saw some old friends, hung out and rested a little, helped us sort out our stuff, run around doing errands and then became our pack mule during the trip back.

Our official church farewell from Alice Springs Baptist Church was on May 17th. This was a highly anticipated event, at least for me. Initially when we were in Alice, it was only for 2 years with maybe another 2 after that. Then we extended for another 2 and a very surprising 2 more after that. Every time someone would be farewelled (a lot 'cause it's a transient town), I would think 'that's going to be us one day'. Because we loved living there, loved the church, were so involved and enjoyed friends and the lifestyle, I knew this would be very hard. Daniel and I prepared something to say ahead of time...well, something for HIM to read since I was pretty sure I would lose it completely if I tried to do it. He did very well, said what we wanted to say and kept his composure, all while holding Kate and his piece of paper at the front of the church! I was pretty impressed that I didn't tear up until the end, when people gathered around to pray for us. It helped that Carly was walking circles around me and talking while Daniel was talking...she was pretty occupying, bless her!

We had a farewell with Janelle, Kim and June and their kids from Mums' Group, complete with yuuuuuuummy food, presents and a car cake. Carly had a great time with all of her friends, eating lots of food and playing. Sawyer gave her a little stuffed rabbit which has now joined the ranks with her bear, so she cuddles both at night. We had our last kindergym then our last Mums' Group, which we held at our house for more 'shopping at the Hendersons'. Kate turned over for the first time right in front of our friend June. I didn't see her do it but I saw that one second she was on her back and the next she was on her tummy. Now she is a total pro at flopping back and forth, rolling all over the place, scooting herself and everything!

Daniel finished up everything at work. Before Brian came, Daniel realized he had a few days of extra vacation up his sleeve. It worked out very well so he was able to take off some time that last week to hang with Brian and help with all the last minute preparation. He had a 'shout' at the bar at work, a combined farwell with another guy who was leaving. I know he enjoyed working at Raytheon in Alice, was challenged by it in his different positions there and learned a lot. But he was also looking forward to the new challenge of working for Apex Capital Corporation and the relative freedom of working outside the classified world (i.e. you can carry a cell phone all the time).

That night (the Friday before we left), Daniel had a guys night at the Indoor Sand Volleyball place and I had a girls night at my house with some people from church. I know the guys had pizza and chips but the girls were very serious about chocolate, with only 1 item out of about 10 being non-chocolate. We all had a great time, at far too much and stayed up too late. Saturday was our big farewell at the Telegraph Station. Our friends the Grells and Moyles organized it, provided food and drink and even a lovely book for our friends to write messages to us. We had a really great time and still feel so blessed to have friends who love us! Thank you!

We were there just long enough to see our church 'official opening' and ordination service for our friend/the pastor Sam Swadling. In the time we were there, the church embarked on a building program for a bigger facility, went through a time without a youth pastor, moved buildings, went through a time without a senior pastor, had changes to staff and services, etc. Though we have been in that building for some time and Sam has been our pastor for some time, it was really good to see the culmination of all of the work and change in the past few years. Monday our friends Sam, Bethany and Carolyn came to help us get to the airport since we didn't have our cars anymore, we all piled in and waved a farewell to our house, got to the airport late, dragged all our stuff in to check in, hung out with friends who had come to the airport and finally said a tearful goodbye.

The flight from Alice to Sydney was pretty trying with Carly testing the boundaries and throwing semi temper tantrums(she was REALLY tired) and Kate crying with tummy pain a majority of the flight. This was not an encouraging way to start the trip but thankfully this was the worst flight of the whole trip. We got into Sydney, found a taxi van big enough (JUST) for us and our stuff and went to the hotel for the night. Both girls were asleep after the trip and we unloaded all of our stuff and unhooked their car seats with them still inside them and got it all into the hotel room without either of them waking up! The guys went to get food, the girls both woke, we ate and stayed up late re-packing so that Brian could take yet another suitcase for us. Originally we had 5 suitcases but asked Brian to take one with him since he was just going back to Dallas...after just the trip to Sydney we decided we could do without more stuff and gave him another one so we only had 3 for our travels within the USA. We woke up the next morning, took a walk down the street to eat breakfast and have a brief walk on the beach and in the grass with the birds before heading to the airport for the long trek. Picture this...3 adults, 2 kids, 2 car seats, 2 portable cribs, 6 suitcases, a double stroller, 3 backpacks and a portable dvd player. Pure pandemonium. After about 45 minutes at the counter we all got checked in and even avoided charges for the extra bag of ours that Brian was taking back in his name. Went through customs with a very challenging Carly only to be told Kate couldn't currently leave the country because of some visa problem. We waited for about 10 minutes and a customs man came out and told us it was ok. We hadn't eaten lunch but our plane was almost finished boarding so we hurriedly got on and ate some crackers. Hey, at least we didn't have to leave Kate in Australia, right?!

Well, breathe a sigh of relief...this ends installment #1 of 'the trek'. I thought about naming this blog so many different things but 'the blog to end all blogs' did come to mind! Check back soon for the next installment...love from all of us!
Check out the pics (we do have some video, just have to get the time to edit it first)!

It's All Happening...

Hello, everyone! Kate here! I thought that with me being almost 3 months old it was about time for me to do my first blog. I've been busy...really busy. Growing, changing, smiling, eating, sleeping...ya know...being a baby. Mum and Dad say I'm pretty 'chilled'...I think that's a good thing? Sometimes my tummy hurts and I cry a bit 'cause it hurts. And sometimes Carly gives me a little too many cuddles and I get tired of it and have to cry. But other than that, I like to hang out, watch the goings on and smile. I really like to smile and it seems to make people happy when I do, so I think it works out pretty well for everyone!

A few weeks ago I got my 2 month immunisations. They also told me I weigh 5.2kg/11.5lbs, am 58cm/22.8in long and my head is 39cm/15.4in around. All this nursing is making these cheeks nice and chubby though so I probably weigh a little more now.

My big sis, Carly, is pretty cool. She likes to talk to me, cuddle me, pat me, grab my hand and give me 'five', rub my head, hug me, kiss me, bounce me in my chair, lie next to me, hold my hand, sing to me and generally be near me...lots. I find her pretty entertaining most of the time! Tonight we took our first bath together. There was a bit more splashing than my normal bath but I had a great time!

We've been busy playing with friends, seeing old friends from out of town, going to a farewell and a birthday party, going to mums group, kindergym and Sammy's Pizza and, of course, playing at Sawyer and Grayson's house. For Easter Carly and Sawyer painted and decorated eggs and we all went to the Dads (Sawyer and Grayson's/ Carly's and mine) work Easter party too.

Mum and Dad have been busy going through our things for our lawn sale tomorrow. I will probably observe for a while then take a nap...I think Mum wishes she could do the same! In about a week the moving guys come to pack up all of our stuff too! It's all happening here! I'm looking forward to meeting all of my family in the USA in just a few weeks now. Well, I'd better go so I can get some beauty sleep! Check out our most recent pics and enjoy! ~Kate

Fun and games

Hello, everyone! It's Mum here. It's my first post on the blog and I find it very exciting! I have a little quiz for you- look at the picture to the right... whom is whom?? At least one is Carly and one is Kate. They look a bit similar, don't they? I think they're both beautiful...but then again, I am their mum!

We've certainly been busy around here lately. Days just seem to fly by, running around and taking care of two kiddos. There is always something to do...never a dull moment! Kate is growing more day by day, getting better head control, finding a bit more of a routine and smiling to charm us. She makes lots of eye contact, watches Carly run around and has started to coo a little bit as well. She loves music and smiles when we sing to her. And just yesterday I caught her smiling at the tv when Carly was watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (Carly's favorite from an early age). She's not 'low maintenance' with a bit of colic and acid reflux but she has them to a lesser degree than Carly did when she was that age. Thank goodness!

Carly is growing and learning so quickly. She does the alphabet song almost in it's entirety...that LMNOP part gets a bit muddled up, but who really needs those letters anyway?! She loves Kate and gives her kisses and cuddles to the point that Kate gets a bit annoyed after a while! Carly sings a lot with or without the music and is always saying something that makes me laugh. She's testing all the boundaries and sometimes rebelling against the potty training thing but generally does pretty well. She's 2 though...that's what 2 is for, right?

One thing I have found difficult at times is not being able to give either one of the girls undivided attention very often. Several weeks ago, our friend Bec came over and looked after Kate for a couple of hours so Carly and I could go have a moment! We went to the Reptile Centre and Carly had a GREAT time! We saw lots of snakes and lizards. Of course, Carly's favorites were the ones that moved plus the sea snake and the turtle. She sat very patiently through a little talk about snakes and lizards before we got to pet a few of the lizards. By far the highlight of the trip was seeing the crocodile and watching him eat. They only feed the croc every week or so and in winter only every six weeks, so it was great that we just happened to be there at the time and day they were doing it.

Carly and I had already seen everything in the centre and were about to leave when they told us they were going to feed the croc. We went outside and a few people had already stacked up, so I put Carly on my shoulders so she could see. On the menu for the day: rabbit. Carly immediately sees it and says 'RABBIT'! It was at that point I briefly thought...is this a good idea? Will she freak out and have nightmares forever from watching this croc eat the little rabbit? I thought...na, she'll be ok. Thank goodness I was right! The guy did his talk about crocs eating and then threw the rabbit to the croc. The silence of the moment after was broken by my beautiful little girl laughing hysterically, saying 'crocodile eating!' Apparently it struck her as insanely funny...go figure. We watched him finish off the rabbit before he was fed a kangaroo tail. As the croc went crunch crunch on the tail, Carly once again laughed through it. I'm pretty sure a few people thought her reaction was a bit surprising! We went down alongside the tank, where the croc swam by and gave us some good views of his teeth, before we headed for the car. As we walked through the parking lot Carly said, "Ha ha ha. Crocodile eating. Silly crocodile. Ha ha ha." More of this followed later in the day and she was very proud of her little stretchy blue crocodile, our souvenir from the reptile centre. It was definitely a fun outing and I'm looking forward to next Monday when we get to go do another Mum/Carly outing. Thanks, Bec!

Daniel and Carly went to a fundraiser for a church camp a few weeks ago. It was a 'bush dance' complete with live band, dancing, limbo and a barbecue. Kate and I were going to go but she was having a rough night and I decided to spare everyone's ears. Carly had a great time running around with friends, singing and dancing and she looked so cute too! I've also included some Kindergym pics. We go to kindergym every Tuesday morning for about an hour. The kids play then do a 'warm up' of singing with some motions, play a bit more then do a 'cool down' with some more music. Several of her little friends go along too, so it's a great time for her to run around, play with friends, climb and totally wear herself out.

We are trying to enjoy lots of time with Carly's kiddo friends and all of our friends since we are moving in about 8 weeks! It's all going to happen so fast and we will be back in the USA before we know it. We head out of Alice May 26, do a bit of visiting with family then head to Texas to get ourselves sorted before Daniel starts his new job with Apex Capital Corp on June 15. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers over this crazy next few months! For now, enjoy our pics!
-Mum

Hey again, it's Carly here! Mum and Dad have been pretty busy and, well, Kate's pretty busy being a baby, so I thought I would give you a little update on our life here.

Kate is still the new kid on the block but I'm starting to think she's pretty cool. I give her lots of cuddles and kisses. She is pretty cute and has really soft hair I like to pat. She likes to look at me and has even smiled at me a couple of times! Sometimes her dummy falls out and she starts crying but when I put it back in her mouth she stops crying! Mum and Dad say I'm a great big sister.

Dad was off of work for the whole month of February, which I thought was pretty cool. We played lots, ran around the house, swam and went to town. Dad went back to work on Monday but we've had a pretty fun week! I got to play with my best friend, Sawyer, went to Kindergym and Sammy's Pizza and played with my friends at Mums Group today too. I have been learning so much lately. I know most of my colors and I like to sing the alphabet song (I can do it on my own up to 'G' but then I forget so I start over). I can count up to twelve if I really concentrate...but sometimes I just say 1...2...5! I've also been watching Mum and Dad change Kate's nappy (diaper) so I'm learning how to do that. But I think I will pretend I don't know- that's some yucky stuff!

I hear that we will be moving to the USA in a few months. I kind of like it here but Mum and Dad say we will see family and live in a new house and make lots of new friends, so it sounds like fun! We are going to a place called Fort Worth. Dad and I make forts in the living room sometimes...I hope Fort Worth is bigger than the one in our living room or it might be hard to fit all of us in there! Well, take a look at the pics and videos. Hope you enjoy them!

A quick month...

Hey, all! Carly here. Glad you have all found our new blog site. Make sure to read the post from Daddy (below) if you haven't already. So...the big news is obviously my new little sister Kate! I have to say that at first I wasn't quite sure what I thought of her. I mean, she's cute and all, but she cries, takes a bit of Mum and Dad's attention from me and even smells a bit sometimes! But she IS pretty cute and I like to give her kisses and the occasional cuddle so...she is growing on me. I keep telling her to get "up, baby" but Mum says she is too little to walk yet. I hope she figures that out soon 'cause I'm ready for her to play with me!

Nana was here until after baby Kate was born. We had LOTS of fun together and I'm a bit sad that she's gone now! We had lots of fun going to the park, running around the house, painting our nails (for the first time), giving massages, tickling, swimming, going out to eat yummy food, seeing the wallabies, coloring and all sorts of other fun stuff. A few days before Kate came to meet us, Mum, Dad, Nana and I even went to Standley Chasm, a nice nature area. It was raining a little bit but we walked around and saw some rocks, trees, little insects and all the flies came with us (the flies come out in force in Summer here).

All in all, I have to say that January was a pretty good month! February has gotten off to a great start with the arrival of Kate and Mum and Dad back from the hospital. If January and February were that great, I wonder what will happen in March?! I need to go to bed and get my rest so I can wake Mum and Dad up at 5am again...I just think it's a good time to greet the day. Don't you? Check out the pics from January! Love you! --Carly

P.S. If you have a Google account/email address, be sure to become a "follower" (over on the right side below the slide show) of our blog and you will get automatic updates when we do a new blog entry.