a couple of halloween photos.

 

 the "littles" trick or treating in our new neighborhood.

 the 2 "bigs" and the "big little" getting ready to trick or treat at our friends house.

It was fun to enjoy trick or treating American style!  Jonah said this was for sure his last year so he was glad to have one more chance to trick or treat!

Oh, go see our HOUSE!!!!

The House Blog.

Breaking Ground!

I went past the lot today and they had broken ground and poured the footings!  Next week they will do all the crawl space/foundation work.  The week after we think the carpenters put up the walls.  It will go really fast after that!  In 90 - 100 days we will close on our house and move in.  We are so excited - now if our Fenton house would just sell!!!!
 

 from across the culdesac

 from the driveway

1st day of school in Greenville

Elijah and Jonah were a little nervous -Bella however seemed petrified!  She woke up at 3:30 and couldn't get back to sleep.  Poor sweetie, she misses her friends in Australia so much!   I made the first day chocolate chip cookies and I'm looking forward to seeing how the day went!  I'll let you know!

8th Grader

 

7th Grader

1st Grader

SCHOOL in Greenville!

The day after we signed the contract for our house I was able to get the big two into their middle school (Beck Academy).  They were so excited!  The Elementary school assigned to our subdivision (Sara Collins) would not accept Elijah with the same paperwork.  Matt made some photo calls but still we waited.  FINALLY yesterday they said Elijah was accepted!!!  Today we went to the "Meet the Teacher" and guess what?  She just found out today that she would teach at that school!  And previously she was teaching at the BEST school in Greenville (Oakview).  So we are happy that Elijah got a teacher from the BEST school!  He deserves that - It was worth the wait!

YEAH!  School starts on Monday and all 4 kids are registered! (finally!)

a bit of a scare.

(above photo taken by Tia)

The kids and I drove past our lot on Friday to find that the stakes that determine where our house will go were in place.  We walked out to try to figure out where the different rooms in our house would be located and we were really surprised when the last stake from what we figured was the morning room  was right to the edge of the berry bramble at the back of our property.  I freaked out thinking we were not going to have a yard!  The main reason we decided to build in this subdivision was there is a lot of green space and the lot is .35 of an acre, not large but a lot larger than many of the lots we had looked at.  I get a little over dramatic and I honestly was trying to decide if we should back out of our contract and lose our down payment. 

I  called Matt and worked on getting him upset also.  While we were on the phone he got another call and had to let me go.  A few minutes later he called back and mentioned that Ted, our construction manager had called him to say it would be a good idea if we walked the lot together so he could explain what the stakes meant and we could decide what trees should stay etc.

Monday morning we headed over to the lot and when we walked it Ted explained that the outer most stakes were 10 feet past where the last corner of the house would go.  He also walked us behind the berry bramble and showed us that our lot goes a good bit past that.  Whew.  I was so relieved!

An email from Zeke - thought you might enjoy.

Hi Ellie, Matt, Jonah, Isabella, Elijah and Tia,

Well by now you must be settling into home somewhere, I hope, and that you are feeling good about being back in the USA.

Zeke here! sorry I had to kick my new Dad off the laptop. Hi I miss you guys!!! I have a big waggly tail bashing into the walls as I am so excited to be writing to you, plus the usual talking while holding onto one of my toys. Now I am sitting very nicely on my tail [well you say fat arse! Boy I miss that with my hometown accent!] oh ok because I am so excited I will give you a bit of slobber as well.

So what have I been up to?

Well I was not missing you much the first week because I had visited my new home with you guys beforehand, had all my toys and had plenty of tug off wars. I can beat Julie up but Paul is so big its hard to shake him off but I am thankful he doesn’t do the full on dive like you used to Jonah, but I get plenty of rough and tumble from all of them although Julie and Joanna go a bit soft on me. Having that new bed helped me feel comfortable but I did miss you more the second week because I was thinking ok that’s been a nice little holiday I have been good now I want my family back… but you know my new family love me heaps like you do and with lots of cuddles and heaps of walks even a few runs [my new dad is a bit weird because while I start off running leading the way out in front I let him take the lead after 3k and he wants more by 4k, but I put on the tired look and slow the legs down and don’t wiggle the tail as much -that soon gets him to have some sense in life and go home!] and that helps. Anyway I am very happy and have got some new squeaky toys which I love squeaking. When my new dad does his stretches after his runs I love to stand over the top of him. I tell him “I am really the boss”, I put a slobbery toy in his face, lean on him or climb right underneath him, oh yeah I still do that “I am not taking any notice off you” stuff that you guys loved as well.

I still snore as usual and I have always eaten all my food put in front of me. I hope you Elijah and Tia are eating all your food? I do miss being able to look you both in the eye, not so easy in this new home as they are all so tall, still I know how to get them down to my level and sort them out. I don’t feel quite the movie star Isabella with that big flash camera of yours. However they have some cameras and have some pictures to send soon.

Well I had a nice walk in the bush with Julie and Rich in the rain and did I have fun running backwards and forwards in this big long muddy puddle then they ruined it all when I got toweled down at home before coming inside. Any way I have my usual thoughts now so must go and have some dinner. Love you all woof woof. The Zeke alias Beast.

Well before I was interrupted by Zeke I was going to ask, how the flights and move has gone and I guess you have been enjoying the summer weather and be back to school now, soon? Have you managed to find a suitable church yet? Hope the new job is going well Matt. The Wallabies smashed the South Africans last night which was good. We hope the many things you have to do to get organized and into routines Ellie has gone well.

We pray God will Bless you all.

Bye fo now Julie and Rich

Lot #12

July 14th we signed the contract to build our new home!  The house will be ready sometime in late November.  We are hoping to spend Thanksgiving there!  Here are some photos of the neighborhood and our lot.  We are at the right side of the culdesac and the lots to the side of it, with trees and at the very end of the culdesac cannot be built on.  The pond has fish and is part of the subdivision.  It is really close to downtown Greenville - about a 12 minute drive.

This is a photo of the clubhouse - the pool and playground are behind it.

The Last Day of School in Australia - ever.

Our last time in the City.

and can I just say that the significance wasn't lost on these two?  

I guess I can't. 

Our 14 year old!

Happy Birthday Jonah!

The Cut-Through Street

Elijah (and Bella) have been rollerblading in the house for a few months now - they are getting pretty good.  Elijah brought his blades to school for News -"what is your favorite sport?" Day.  He put them on as soon as we crossed Bobbin Head Road and he was skating on the cut-through street.  I had the camera to take photos of the neighborhood before we move.  I love this photo because it captures not only how cute Lijie looks skating in his uniform but also the way that street looks and the other Aussie school children in the background.

Happy Mother's Day To

(our)

thanks :) love you.

I tried to stop her . . . .

but she insisted on turning 12!

Her school friends gave her flowers -

Mom & Dad gave her rollerblades -

we celebrated over a chocolate cake!


maybe next year we can talk her into not getting any older!?

Greenville, SC

Here we come!

Too CUTE!

Elijah lost his second top front tooth on the last day of our holiday to Hawk's Nest. We are loving his new look :)

For Grandpa Froggy.

Don'tchya think he makes a great poster boy.

for "white boys can't jump"

Hawke's Nest - quick getaway!

The children were on holidays from school for two weeks and we managed to get away for 5 days to a lovely beach town just 2 hours north of us. We had an amazing time! The weather was gorgeous (about 80 degrees the entire time!) The sands were white and the water was warm enough to body board! Everyone had so much fun. The highlight for all of us was the daily dolphin sighting!!!! They loved surfing the waves as much as we loved watching them! Hopefully I will have time to post more photos later, however Matt is gone to the US (to get our house fixed up!) for the next 12 days and well, time seems more limited (or maybe it has more to do with the 10 loads of laundry I have done today??!!)

today.

it's Easter holidays and we are at home. no friends today (well Jonah's sleepover friend has already gone.) time to clean out the bedrooms - lots and lots of stuff to get rid of. i don't think the kids are happy about this but - IT MEANS WE ARE CLOSER TO MOVING BACK TO THE US!!!

The Bigs have both been to 3D movies (separately) in the past 48 hours and have been wearing the glasses since.

ps we just decided to have a garage sale on Saturday. try to imagine the excitement (and mess) around here! - (think EJ magnitude mess :)

What is cuter?

than a 3 year old on an Easter Egg Hunt??

Happy Easter!

Learning to Surf!

For Maddy's Birthday present we took her surfing at Manly Beach.

Matt attempted to surf also :)

Maddy did awesome - even though the surf was rough today!

Jonah had a lot of fun!

Bella always manages to ride a few good waves!

Elijah got in on the action!

Tia tried to catch a wave (while on the beach!) with Daddy's help of course!

A very fun day was had by all!