Wenthworth Manor

Our house is going on nicely....Worked started on the 8th of this month...

The good thing with daylight savings is that we can go up and have a good look  around without the builders around..

Our deck is looking good, still haven't decided on a handrail, not sure if we need one yet.

This week we got to go inside and do the electrical plan...
Still on track for a February move..

Tasmanian Zoo

 While ago when Phebe and Gary were away for the weekend I decided to take Eliza and Eden to our local Zoo.. The Tasmanian devils are the main attraction and the little guys are very cute....

 We couldn't believe our eyes when we saw these dinosaurs, Eden wasn't even scared of the big crocodile..
What brave people we were..

Eliza made a new friend.  We will go back and visit Eliza's friend soon....

27 to 5

 It's been a while since we moved out of our home at Trevallyn to our rental property in Newstead.
I love everything about this cottage, maybe because I know it's not forever..

It doesn't have the best water pressure come to think of it, it has NO water pressure and the kitchen is small and old

  

But  there is SO much to love about it..

In a matter of fact as soon as we were settled into living I asked Gaz if he would like to buy a cottage and renovate it....

 

  

It is close to  everything and we love going for walk down to the shops or to the park..

It has heaps of character and heaps of cracks. It was really hard doing the condition report for the real estate. Phebe and Eliza live upstairs, they have their own bedrooms and their own bathroom. I don't go up the stairs much, I leave everything on the bottom of the stairs.. Phebe has a big bedroom with an attic style roof and a small walk in robe... Eliza's bedroom is a decent size and gets a lot of sun.. There are no photos because they are teenagers and that equals mess..

 This house loves the sun and most days I find myself sitting at the table enjoying the sun..
Oh did I mention it comes with it own gardener...
And the fridge doesn't fit in the kitchen, so it is in the lounge room.. Closer to get drinks in summer...

Number 27

 I always disliked our front fence, that's why I wasn't really caring when painting it. I thought that one day we will get a new one. Suddenly it has hit me that this week I am going to say goodbye to the fence that I wanted to replace. Even though we have only been in the house for 7 months since being back, I thought that it wouldn't be sad but I guess in 2011 we always knew we were coming back to it..

 Our nick name for our house is 'The Shoebox on the Hill' and it has served us well..
We will miss our neighbours on the bottom side, they have watched the girls grow up and Eden loves yelling out to Andrew from the deck when he comes home..

 

Eliza was only little when we moved in, the photo was taken in the first week.

 

Eliza still on the same window sill on the last week..
We are moving to a little house in Newstead while the house is getting built..
When building a house sometimes things don't go the way you have planned.
The previous post house design hasn't worked out and we have signed with another builder.
Moving into our new house early Feb..
Goodbye Shoebox you have been good to us...

When this turns into this!

 Back in February this year we brought a block of land not far from where we live now, we liked it as the girls wouldn't have to change schools and still close to the city center and not a bad distance to the chapel.
After getting quotes from several builders and talking to many more people we have finally picked our builder. We have also had movement on the house, it has finally SOLD and we haven't got an settlement date yet. We also hope to start building soon but at the moment it's time to find somewhere to rent for a while.

 and this is what our house is going to look like... 

We love the modern feel..
It will be so good to be in a house that has two bathrooms and the girls each have their own bedroom and the best bit a dishwasher.. Even though it's the girls job to do the dishes it will be good just to put them in the dishwasher during the day.

1D for 13th

 If you thought that Phebe was upset about Gary's cake turning out better than hers, then you should have seen her face when the cupcakes that I ordered for Eliza's birthday came...

 Both girls are a bit crazy about the boy band so I thought it cool to have some 1D cupcakes..
It was a busy birthday after hockey game, Gaz and Eliza then met up with Phebe and myself as we were helping with the Christmas in July activity at church for the Single Adults..
Thanks to Jac we left after we cleaned up from dessert and headed to Flip Burger a place that we hadn't been to before.

After we finished our burger Eliza headed of to Chloe her friends house for a sleepover, it was her birthday this week as well.
And what did Eliza get for her birthday, hockey gear of course.
Happy 13th Birthday Eliza xx

What's Phebe been doing..

 Phebe hasn't started a sport but has thrown her energy into things at school. Last month she was a team member for grade 9 Riverside High School Maths relay team.. All the Riverside teams performed really well, with coming away with a 1st, couple of 2nds  and placing a 3rd and Phebe team placed 5th. They were happy with 5th as grade 9s were doing the same answers as 10s..

 Phebe also completed her second term presentation, she focus was on photography and really went well. Talking in front of a group for people for a 45 mins is not my favourite thing to do so i admire her for doing this.

 Phebe also went on a excursion with a group of other children from other schools to spend the day with some local professional photographers.. She plans to enter an local photography competition aimed for 9-12 grade school students. The photo below Phebe chose to send into the local paper where they publish a photo each day. When your photo is selected you win a poster print of your photo..

Also this week Phebe was a part of the winning Riverside team who took out 1st place in the State final of Science and Engineering Challenge...

Hockey time

 After having a year off sport Eliza has stated playing hockey. This was her first year playing with a club, she played a bit in grade 6 but now she is enjoying playing in an under 14 team for Launceston City Hockey Club.

 We have had a break from Saturday morning sport as the girls gave up soccer after playing for 7 years when Eden was a baby. Being a winter sport it was had going and standing in the rain with a baby wasn't much fun.

 most of the mornings are really cold and if its raining they have a inside seats where you can sit and watch.

 Training is on Tuesday night just before mutual so it works in well.

Eden thinks that the best bit about hockey is the kiosk and the hot chocolates.

Oscars is back...

 Since we couldn't take Oscar to Provo he has been living with Gary's Mum since late 2010 and back in June we were having a small break from not having any open homes so we thought we have Oscar come and stay for a couple of nights.. Since staying with Gary's Mum he has gained a bit of weight (he is a true Woodward).

What do you do with an overweight dog, take him for a walk of course.
Unfortunately Oscar had to go back back to Nan's where he now calls home.

For now....

a night away

 Back in June Gary and I went down to Hobart without the kids, It was great to get away. In Provo we didn't have any family so it was difficult to leave 3 girls with anyone. Gary's mother offered to look after the girls so we booked at a mystery hotel and off we went.. Being used to driving on the I-15, the 2 hr drive down to Hobart was a breeze..

 We went and visited the Cat and Fiddle Square, I have been coming here since I was a kid and every time we would come to Hobart this place would be our first stop. It plays the nursery rhyme 'hey diddle diddle' every hour.

 Hobart is sorounded by lots of old bulidings, has lots of little shop tucked away in alley ways..
Hobart has a lot of different shops that Launceston has, we mainly looked at home wares, lighting and furniture shops, boring I know but just trying to get some ideas for the new house..

And you know life is a tad sad when you get excited about able to buy a juice from one of Australia's biggest Juice Bar store...

Pre Kinder

 Since Eden will start school next year she has started to go to the Pre-Kinder program at Riverside Primary School. Every Wednesday morning we go and see what Mrs French has put out for all children.
Heaps of craft, puzzles, reading, painting to do inside and different stuff each week to play with outside..

But Edens favourite thing to do is spend time in the 'dress up' corner...
They have lots of dresses but she also likes to copy the boys and dress up  with all the safety clothes..
Soon she will be able to go more than one morning a week...
Bring on 2013..

Making up for the Cake..

 I made such a mess with Phebe's cake, lucky for me , unlucky for Phebe we have two April birthdays..
Gary's cake was looked and tasted awesome.

 Kate came around to visit us and it just happened that we were cutting the cake in the morning...
What else did Gary do on this birthday, well he spent 2 and half hours on the Internet buying One Direction tickets for Phebe and Eliza. Yes we did finally get some and have to wait til next year to see them..

No 1 tiurns 15

Phebe has always joked that she is our No 1 child, so in April (yes April, lost my blogging mojo) our No 1, first born or tallest child turned 15...Did she get to sleep in on her birthday.. No her mother made her go to a PUMP class at the gym as it was one of my favourite gym instrustors 40th birthday and after attending the gym she was allowed to rest.

 After the gym she went out to lunch with some of her friends at a local cafe.

 For her birthday we brought her a water proof camera so when she came home after lunch we that we would test the 'waterproof' part of the camera out..

There is no picture of Phebe's cake I could lie and say that it was SO yummy that it was ALL eaten before I had time to take a photo.. Truth is it was such a disaster that it went in the bin before a photo was taken..

We love ya Phebe's and thanks for being good about the cake!!!!