Liebster Award number 2

Last week I was lucky enough to receive my second Liesbster Award from the lovely Lisa at Mummy Manifesto.  It made my week being nominated again, so thank you so much Lisa.  I think this is such a lovely award in the blogging community as it really shows recognition for each others talents and it's a fabulous way of discovering new blogs to read (which is hard to resist for me as I'm ALWAYS in the lookout for new blogs).

To find out a bit more about the Liebster Award (and a little more about me), take a look at my First Leibster Award

Here are the great 11 questions that Lisa had for me.  Are you ready??

1.  The 'worst' compliment that you have ever received?

Well this one I remember very clearly.  Back in the day when I was working as an Inflight Beauty Therapist for Virgin Atlantic, I was in a bar in Hong Kong called 'Dusk till Dawn'.  (If anyone reading this has even been partying in Hong Kong, you'll remember this place for sure!!).  It's one of those bars that you always end up in at the very end of the night (or early hours of the morning).  I could go on and on here (memories flooding in), but must get back to the point in hand!!  One particular night I was there a nice looking pilot attempted to 'chat me up".  After the initial pleasantries he leaned in and said "You look like the kind of pretty girl that would make a wonderful housewife!!!!!!!!"  Enough said!

2.  Your favourite midnight snack?

Not sure I'm able to stay awake until midnight these days, but if I could it would have to be peanut M&M's or white chocolate Malteasers.  (Actually pretty much any chocolate would do).

3.  The hardest thing about blogging is?

For me as a busy mum of three, I'd say it would definitely have to be finding the time to do it!  Coming a close second would be keeping up with social media - if I'm not careful that can be the biggest time sucker of all!!

4.  The one character trait that you hope to pass on to your children?

Mmmmm this is a tough one!  I'm not good at self compliments.  I think I am a pretty good listener, which is something that I definitely got from my mum (she's the best).  I really hope that all my kids learn how to be good listeners. 

5.  Your favourite birthday celebration so far?

That has got to be my 30th Birthday.  We were still living in England then and being a January birthday it was ABSOLUTELY freezing   There was so much snow that we only just made it home from a family lunch.  The following week Mr D booked a beautiful boutique hotel in Cornwall where we went with a group of our closest friends for a long weekend.  Despite the snow everywhere else, the sun was shining in Cornwall and we had the most awesome weekend chilling out together with great wine, great food, great views and great company.

England can be spectacular in the winter

6.  The one character trait you hope you partner passes on to your children?

That one has to be patience!  Mr D has loads of patience - so much more than me!

7.  The one bad habit you wish you could get rid of?

Biting my nails!  This is a terrible habit that I have had on and off since I was a little girl.  I remember my dad saying he'd give me 50c per nail if I stopped biting them.  It worked!!  For a little while anyway.....

8.  Camping or hotel?

Hotel for sure!!  I am just not a camping kinda girl!

9.  Name one blogger you want to meet in real life and why?

Mmmmmm this one has me thinking!  I think I will have to say Che from Indieberries.  I love reading her blog and she just seems like a really funny, cool kinda chick!!

10.  Your signature dish in the kitchen?

I don't really have a signature dish as such but Mr D certainly has.  His spaghetti Bolognese rocks!!

11.  Your most treasured possession?

This may sounds slightly cliched but I have three!  My children for sure!

So there you have it!  Now it's my turn to nominate some fabulous blogs that I think deserve a bit of Liebster Loving.  Make sure to pop over and check them out too.

1.  Teapots and Tractors
2.  No more pastrami
3.  Dad down under
4.  Bliss amongst the Chaos
5.  Have a laugh on me
6.  Easy Peasy Kids

And last but certainly not least, here are my 11 questions I have for them.

1.  Who is the boss in your house.  Mum or Dad?
2.  Where is the best place you've taken the kids on holiday and why?
3.  Tea or coffee in the mornings?
4.  Which social media platform do you enjoy the most?
5.  Can you share one fail safe kids lunch box idea?
6.  What is the first thing you notice when meeting new people?
7.  Are you a glass half full or a glass half empty kinda person?
8.  What is your favorite ice-cream flavour?
9.  What are you most passionate about?
10.  If tomorrow was 'date night' for you and your partner, where would you go?
11.  Where is the furthest you've ever been from home?

Well, thats it!  I've really enjoyed writing this post, so thanks SO much again Lisa from nominating me. Don't forget to visit Lisa at Mummy Manifesto and all my lovely Liebster nominees to find out how they've answered my questions.

A little bit of birthday boasting!

Birthday lunch date with my hot hubby

A couple of days ago was my birthday.  Not a particularly significant birthday but it was still mine - all 24 hours of it (which I even managed to drag out over 48).  For those of you who are as interested in my 'number' as Miss H is, I am still thirty something, only this year I'm an odd number, and I'm still younger than Mr D.

I'm now going to turn this into a teeny tiny BOAST post!  Not that I'm a boasty type of person (well not much) but it is my birthday, so right now I am going to take center stage (because I can!!!)

First teeny boast

I have the most amazing Mr D in the whole world!!  He surprised me by tucking the NEW iPHONE 5 under my pillow the night before my day!  You have no idea how happy this made me (cue: big BIG smiles).  Actually I think Mr D does, as the poor love has had to endure the endless, and I mean endless complaining from me about how my old (and beloved) iphone was "driving me CRAZY!!!!"  Those of you that follow my blog will know that my iphone is pretty much my third arm (you know, for..............  blogging, tweeting, face-booking, chatting, millions of photo taking and of course general nosiness).  As it slowly started to fall apart at the seams, poor Mr D (my IT support at home) got the brunt of my frustrations.  First it was the home button - you know, the big round one that you have to use for EVERYTHING.  It started where I'd have to tap a little harder than usual, then tap it a little harder several times, then bang it several time and then finally bang it and grint my teeth (trying not swear in front of the kids) and then bang it again before it finally turned a page.  If that wasn't enough the volume functions decided to slowly die too, so my phone conversations sounded something like this:  "Hello!  "Oh Hi, how are you?........ Sorry can you say that again,  I can't hear you very well..........What was that??? .........Sorry I still didn't quite catch that - I can barely hear you" (with me wildly waving my arms at the kids giving them frantic hand signals to shut up for just one minute while I tried to figure out who I was talking to)!!  Then finally to add insult to injury my camera got sticky!!!  Making taking photos of moving kids near impossible!

Isn't she pretty??

So you see - best present ever for me!  Thanks babe!

Second weeny boast

I have the very bestest family in the whole world!!  I just loved how Master J and Miss H were excited that it was MY birthday and not theirs.  Seeing their cute little faces in the morning, desperate to wake up Miss L so she didn't miss out on seeing Mummy open up her presents made my morning.  They told EVERYONE they possibly could that it's "Mummy's Birthday today!!!!!!"  So sweet and of course I was very spoilt too.  Such a lucky Mummy I am.

Last Boast (and it's a big one!)

Wow!  What fabulous friends I have. The best ever!  

Thank you all so much for all your lovely cards, messages, pressies, phone calls, babysitting and visits.  I'll try not to get too sentimental now, but it really did make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Thanks everyone for making the best day of the best month simply the best.  You all rock!

xxxxxx Mrs D

P.S. Just one more teeny weeny boast!  In case you didn't know, I share my birthday with the lovely Kate Middleton - The Duchess of Cambridge and future Queen!  I told you it was the best day of the best month!!

A year in pictures! The db's best bits of 2012.

I cannot believe that I am sitting here "rounding up the year"!  Where has it gone??  I know the saying goes that the older you get the faster the years fly by - but am I that old already??  2012 has been our first complete year spent in Sydney and has certainly been action packed.  Here is a quick summary of our best bits.....  

January
It was a lovely start to 2012 having mum and dad stay with us for a few weeks.  I loved  having them around so much that when I dropped them back at the airport to catch their flight I sobbed the WHOLE way home.  Luckily I had been warned that this would happened and after a few days I was back in the swing of things and waiting for their next trip to Sydney.     

February
Master J started Kindergarden his month.   It was an emotional day for me as he looked so grown up, yet so small in his school uniform.  I may have shed a tiny tear, but managed to hold it together very well.  Miss H also started her little Kindy and looked so grown up.  As they both started on the same day (very strategically planned) Mr D and I decided to take the opportunity to enjoy a lovely kid free lunch.  We were having such a great time that we almost forgot the kids and ended up being late to pick them up........on their first day!  Such bad parenting!!!!

March
March was a big month for Mr D as he was promoted at work.   On the 18th March we also celebrated making our first year in Australia.

April
This month our Miss H turned 3.  She celebrated her birthday at Steve Irwin’s ‘Australia Zoo’ in Queensland.  We spent the easter school holidays in Queensland, exploring some of the stunning Australian coastline.  It was our first loooooooong drive with kids and a very pregnant me, but it didn't put us off and we'll defiantly be doing it again.

Crikey! It's my birthday!

Enjoying some of Queensland's spectacular beaches

Beautiful Byron Bay and a big bump

May
On the 29th of May our beautiful little Miss L arrived into the world. We had a couple of slightly stressful false alarms on the week running up to her birth, and when she finally arrived we only JUST made it to the hospital on time!! (and gained a speeding and parking fine along the way).   I had the most amazing 5 night stay in the most beautiful hospital (or hotel) getting to know my new little munchkin.    It was hard being so far from my family at this time but I am so grateful to all our wonderful new friends that went out of their way to help us settle in as a new family of 5.  Miss H and Master J was SOOOO excited to have their new baby at long last and we had to visit both schools to show her off.  It really is amazing to see how innately strong the sibling bond is.

June
This month was a bit of a blur for me to be honest as I was a little sleep deprived to say the least! I did however manage to get a huge parking fine and crash the car! Fortunately no one was hurt (apart from our bank balance) but it was a real lesson for me, that I can’t do EVERYTHING on my own and that it’s ok to accept help. But on a more exciting note – we got news that my little sis and her Mr are expecting their first baby girl next year and I’m going to be an Aunty!!!

Settling in as the new dB5

July
Mum arrived this month from England (just in the nick of time) to meet our little Miss L and to help us all get through the first school holidays with three kids. It was an absolute godsend having her here and even though it was the middle of winter, the weather was beautiful and sunny and we had a wonderful couple of weeks. It made me realise just how much we miss not having mum and dad down the road.

When Granny came to stay

August
This month I decided to turn my blog writing into something a little more permanent. I initially started writing it as a means to keep family and friends up to date with our lives in Sydney.  I enjoy writing it so much that I’ve decided to go a little more public with it.  I suddenly have found myself immersed in a new world of social media and had no idea how ‘big’ it was out there! I’m learning so much all the time and want to keep going (even thought I’m hard pressed to find the time sometimes). 

Mr D takes the kids on a tree climbing adventure to give me some time to write!  

September
School holidays again! Can’t quite believe we are two­‐thirds through the first school year!  We headed up the north coast on our first road trip as a family of 5. It was only a 4 hour drive but we had to make several stops for feeding and wee’s and leg stretching. Thank god for ipads – I don’t know how my parents survived without them! We stayed in the beautiful Port Stephens Bay for a week and did nothing but chill out at the beach.  I even managed to read a book!!!

Road-tripping with 3

Family time on the beach

Miss L's first swim.  What a cutie x

Beautiful Hawkes Nest Bay

October
This month Master J turned 6 – at last!! I say that because he asked me at least once a week from the beginning of the year ‘how many sleeps until I’m 6?’ He seems to have grown up so much this year and bringing with it a whole new set of parenting challenges for us. Especially now that he can read – nothing is a secret anymore. The other day he managed to get onto the school canteen app on my iPhone and order his own lunch!!!! Telling me he didn’t feel like my sandwiches that day. However we are so proud of how he has settled, not only into his new life in Aus but also into school. (Not sure how I’m going to cope next year when the homework starts to come home). We also spent a long weekend away with my cousin LCJ and MT in a beach house up the North Coast of Sydney. I love it that I have one family member that is ‘almost’ around the corner.  It was an awesome weekend with lots of laughs!  The boys were on a fishing mission and even ended up knee deep in mud just to get to a great fishing spot!!!

Master J turn 6.  What a bunch of cheeky riders!

Mr D and MT relaxing with some ocean fishing.  Unfortunately they didn't catch anything we could actually eat!

LCJ with her newest niece

All this mud was Miss H's idea of HEAVEN!

November
The Sydney weather kicked up a gear or two in the heat department this month and has given me an indication of what’s to come in the summer!! HOT HOT HOT!! We’ve had some extremely humid days making my daily job of getting in and out the car a hundred times (well not quite hundred but it feels like that sometimes) not so pleasant! Roll on the school holidays. Master J also started nippers (junior surf life saving) and ocean swim club this month. He has taken to the water so well and I think we might have a little swim star on our hands.   Miss H did her first ballet recital on stage this month and was absolutely beautiful. It brought a little tear to my eye (yes, another one!!).

Master J swimming his awesome 25m race in the big pool!

Miss H and her beautiful ballerina friends waiting for their turn to go on stage

Ice-cream at the beach after school - you know it's summer time!!

December
This month we will have our first Christmas ever with just the 5 of us! We’re going to be house sitting for a colleague ofMr D's, so will spend Christmas and New Year at a lovely Beach House just kicking back and enjoying all the festivities.

I have had loads of fun taking Candy Bows to the local markets over the festive period

Have a good chat with Santa x

Miss L meets Santa at the beach.  It's strange to think she'll never know a cold, wintery Christmas.

Master J's school Christmas concert.  It was so cute I might have welled up just a tiny little bit.

With that I’d like to thank you all, my lovely readers, for following Mrs D this year.  I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and an exciting 2013.