Hello Hello

Yes we are still out here in cyberspace and I have been extremely lazy. BUT! I had to post this here for family. Cameron has a new favorite song - ENJOY :)

Little Miss Showgirl Contestant

We put Breanna into the little Miss Showgirl at the Charleville Show.

The morning ran smoothly. Brea was great. She didn't win and I was worried she would be sad, and I went to get her and she said to me 'That was great mum!" She loved it.

Dad waiting with Brea

You can hear me in the video saying 'oh goodness'. At this stage, she was looking back at the lady with the microphone, and almost fell off the catwalk - yes I almost had a heart failure, but she won back the croud. She got the loudest reaction of all the girls - and I thought she should of won (yes i know i am bias) lol.

The Showgirls

The little girl who won was on the right hand side of this photo, in the black dress with coloured dots. ?!?!(I couldnt believe she won..., the runner up was cuter.) The runner up was girl in the black skirt, and black and white top third on the right from Brea.
Can you see why I thought Brea should have won?!? haha.

Anyway, it was fun, she loved it and we think it helped to give her a bit of confidence in front of crouds, which is ultimatley why we did it.

We think she is great :D

Mothers Day with the Preps :D

Friday before mothers day, is guaranteed to involve mothers, morning tea, getting sitters to take your kids other kids if your lucky, watching your child perform and taking photos, lots of photos, and smile and oohhh and ahhhhh at the right time.

I did all of this, and when I arrived at school, this is what I saw:

Needless to say I cried. As most of the other mums did.

They gave us a mug, filled with soil and a little plant ~ ready to bloom, and picture of our child in the shape of a flower on a paddle pop stick. ADORABLE.

Now,

Whenever I heard of people giving teachers presents at the end of the year i could never understand why, and even secretly made a pact not to waste the money. Really! I will end up having 3 kids at school eventually, do I really want to buy presents for teachers whose JOB it is to teach my kids?

AFTER TODAY, I have changed my mind.

The next flood.

Rained again last night quite heavy, then they were worried about where the water from rain up north would go. So after sirens again and Evacuations today... we are back home again. There is more flooding today, but not as bad as Tuesday.

Here are some photos from above on Tuesday

The bush just behind the levy

One of the bridges out of town

The bowls club, that ones for grandpa!

The other side of town.

My street, our house is second on the left

Its raining again now, quite heavy. Now to see what the gully/river will do tomorrow with that rain.

Puts it in perspective when you see it from above. Interesting thought that one.......

It has been an adventure!!

Who said living out country was boring?

As most of the family know already - Charleville was hit by the worst flood in about 10 years. Following for family and friends are a few pics and videos of what we saw. As usual, camera pics just dont do it justice.

Sandbagging the IGA

The gully in the centre of town was the first to flood.

SES workers making a delivery in their boat. (on the other side of town. this is a friends pic)

Trent's school - St Mary's - a bit of a delay on the school covered area.

Interesting seeing that sign there....

Petrol Station - now where did I park my car?

Police Station and water over road washing the bins away

water rushing by a bin

first ones under

my house is on the right hand side before the yellow posts. The camera shot is taking facing the Warrego River which has flooded the bridge, and water is coming past the levy and half way up the road. (no gate on levy because the COUNCIL left it on the other side of town where is was stuck by flood water, smart work boys ???)

The bad sound in the video was actually the sound of rushing water.

The thing that worried us the most was the sound of the emergency siren signalling the beginning of the evacuations. It sounded like a siren warning war bombing planes on the way. It made me pull out the kids suitcases and throw a few things into them.

It came very fast, and we were running around trying to help the neighbours get things out from under their houses, and making sure everyone was ok .

The kids just wanted to swim in it.

Trent had been playing in the mud with the kid next door ealier that day, and when the water started to rise and rise and rise, he came to me and said - mum, i am sorry i built the dam out of mud. I didnt mean to flood Charleville. - Gorgeous thing.

Jason had a rough day. He worked from 8am - 10pm and didnt have time to stop for a break. A nice lady did bring some sandwiches to them that they were able to eat on the run.

He tells lots of interesting stories of ordering people out of their homes, drudging through rushing water to save a mother and 12yr old daughter, and of course help dogs. The poor mother almost floated away while he was holding the daughter and he had to reach over and grab the mother by her shirt.

Despite what he was going through all day, he was so worried about us. I think I am a very lucky girl. No damage to the home, with only how to clear a fallen tree to worry about.

Trents school is under water and will take weeks to get back to working order.

Shops will not be open for at least a week, which makes me SO GLAD I had a 'feeling' to get some storage together just prior to moving here. We will be eating lots of porridge. Jason said some people have NOTHING.

The stealing has begun with several stores and the nurses quarters at the hospital have already been broken into. When the police and SES helpers went to the IGA to get food to send up to those with nothing and had been evacuated - a lot of food rushed out the doors of the store and down the street. People were getting in boats and followed it down the road near the cemetary and started scooping food out of the water - anything they could get.

Our neighbours are all pulling together, sharing food/meals so we use the BBQ all at once. One neighbour bought me a loaf of bread, doughnuts for my kids (before the stores closed earlier today, and i had NO CASH only atm card and ATMs were down - of course, i was cranky i didnt prepare that better and have cash) and bought me over 2 rolls of toilet paper. These people are just sharing and taking care of each other.

We are very blessed and hope that the water doesn't continue through the night or it could be worse tomorrow. Stocking up water in every bottle I can find.

Our back yards - the water was rising.

Keep you up to date with how the town goes recovering from something like this.

Its good everyone is safe and no deaths.

Its good to be prepared! A learning experience thats for sure.

Cams little personality is appearing, and even though he is still mr serious, there are other interesting things about him too. He will just draw for hours! Sit him down with a blank scrapbook and crayons and he just draws and draws and draws!!!! He wants to draw several times a day for at least 20 mins at a time, we have to watch him though cause sometimes the crayons can end up on all kinds of MEDIUMS.(couch, walls, fridge)

We are hoping that he has some artist DNA in him and we can nurture that side (both of us have talented artists in our family). Here is some video we took today. Usually when he sees the camera he will just leave what he is doing to get to it, but not when drawing :)

ok, ok, so he is part warewolf too.

Kickin it with Cam!!

This little boy is so serious a lot of the time and then just busts some moves when we are not expecting it. (hence the fridge was open and an old straw hat on the floor that the kids had been playing with....I wasn't prepared for the camera to come out) but he started spinning on the floor on his bottom, and before i put the camera on he was balancing on one leg and two hands on the floor - trying a bit of breaking.... hahaha

He still isnt smiling, and it ends in tears, but you could just tell he was having a blast.... :D

MORE BUGS

This is what i found in our garden a few days ago. UGH! yuck

This place just keeps on surprising me!

Starting Prep :D & :_(

Prep day finally arrived! I didn't think it every would and I must say I was a ball of mixed emotions. Trent wasn't though or if he was he didn't show it. He went running through the doors, so proud to put all his things where they belong, and relax with a puzzle with the other kids. He surprises me sometimes. When I think he is going to be nervous and could very well shut down and cry and he is totally fine and happy. I tried to make the day special but not hype it up too much so he can relax and enjoy the experience.



We all enjoyed the experience.



Things are a lot quieter around here too. Which is good and can be uncomfortable because I am always looking around me wondering where the other kid is and what are they up too, momentarily, before I remember he is now in the care 5 days a week of his TEACHER who already knows more than me - after all, if the teacher said the kids couldn't walk on the path with dirt on it, then that warrants Trent yelling at me across the school ground to 'not walk on that walkway!' because the teacher said so!

Ramote Control Cars

The kids were thrilled when the neighbours kids came out to play cars in the courthouse carpark next door. The cars were pretty fast and the kids had a great time. So now that the christmas presents are bought, the kids have decided there is another thing on their list....mmm I hope the kids forget about them by next week cause there just isnt anymore room in Santas sack for those too.

Another Country Sunset from our front door.

Dirt Girl World - Lets get grubby!

So I have wanted to start a garden for ages, and now being out here with nothing much to do most of the time I have no excuse. There is an old concrete laundry sink under the stairs in the back yard and I thought it a great place to start. So when some unexpected christmas money came, I thought it would be a great family activity to have and the kids would love the experience of planting and growing something themselves. There is a new kids show on ABC called 'Dirt Girlworld' and they address the children viewers as green thumbs. This is our green thumbs picture - Brea is especially excited as she thinks she is Dirt Girl. Next will be getting some worms and putting them in too. We planted tomatoes (easy right? i cant kill those?!?!) beans, and some herbs (basil and sage) some of these are from seedlings and some from seeds.

We will see how it goes - - chickens next....

Work Christmas Party

Here are a few pics of Jasons work Christmas party. They hold one for the kids to attend with Pinyata, BBQ, Santa (who arrives in a Police Car of course) swimming, and Lollie Bags. They kids had a good time and it was good to meet everyone.

Bring on Christmas :D

Here we are in Charleville -

So its been 3 weeks and it has taken me that long to get on here and put up some pics. Partly because our internet provider has been less that helpful and we have been using the wireless of our neighbour. Such kind people....


Ok , so the drive here wasnt too bad. The kids lost the plot at about hours 8 out, and not even the back of the car seat movies could help us anymore. Here are a few pics of the drive....there was lots of road kill but decided not to post that! ewwwww -

And here are a few pics of Charleville, the local IGA, Police station (work) the Qantas flight Brisbane to Charleville (for all my family taking a flight thats the size aircraft that travels here) and on my morning walks, we came accross a dog and a sheep - the dog was having a rest and the sheep was very protective and was sure to stay close to the dog. Very cute - we didnt know where it came from until the owners in a Commodore came and put them both in the back seat and drove off - cant remember the last time I had a sheep in my back seat of the car - only in the country!

mmmm wild pig hunting anyone?

Here are a few pics of the house, for those who have been asking - and the new Christmas Tree of course - on special at Crazy Clarks for $45 - woohooo - much better than our old one, and buster on his new bed...not one of the couches we use to sit on.






and now some pics of the Rock Pools, and the kids throwing rocks into the water, Crab pots, and lots of red dirt!








Well thats all for now, as you all know, everywhere in the south qld has been really hot the last 2 weeks and we are no exception! Heat everywhere and its forced me to get over the fact that the aircon has to be on 24/7 its not worth everyone feeling yucky and cranky and not being able to sleep, i mean after all - its been high 30's and even reached 43 last week - not looking forward to the bill though.

Now that all those pics are up, I can keep up to date right? lol
We all know how hopeless I am on this thing. Love you and miss you! You know who you are!
xxoo