Happiness is a house in Lilyfield

We have had our first complete week together in our new house all together, since Rob got back from New Zealand. We are so blissfully happy here, it works so well as a family house and there's so much space for everyone and everything. On Friday we had the fireplace in the sitting room opened up and had our first real fire that night which was fantastic. Rob hasn't quite got over the novelty of it yet and has been lighting fires in the mornings as well as at night. We really need it now as winter is upon us, and despite lovely sunny days, it's still chilly in the morning and at night. We had a our first lot of visitors here at the weekend for a couple of boozy afternoons, including one with our lovely new next door neighbours. On one side we have Simon and Kirsty with their new baby Maggie, 2-year-old Charlie and 6-year-old Gabe. Scarlett and Gabe hit it off immediately and are in and out of each other's houses and gardens on a regular basis. Scarlett starts school next year and will hopefully be going to the same school as him too. On the other side are Steve and Barbara, and their grown up kids, who are incredibly friendly. We are a short walk from the organic markets held every Saturday, are only minutes from the tram stop to the city and my bike ride to work is now only 15 minutes instead of 35. There's also a massive park at the end of the road which all the kids love going to, and another one down the hill that connects to a wetland walk for spotting turtles, blue-tongue lizards and fish. In other news Florence is now walking. It took her until 15 months, just like Scarlett. She is the happiest baby I have ever known and is a super cuddler. She and Scarlett are starting to spar a bit more now, fighting over toys and books but they love each other to bits.

Quite a send off

Barb had an amazing send off last week at her funeral in Carterton, followed by an enthusiastic wake in Greytown that went on until the early hours. Rob brought a DVD of the funeral service back to Sydney with him and so I was able to watch what was a moving, funny and fitting tribute to his mum. Lots of different family and friends got up to speak about Barb's love of family, wine, and argument, her open door policy and lots of late nights playing cards.  I was especially proud of Rob overcoming his fear of public speaking to deliver a fantastic eulogy. Despite going to bed late on Saturday morning, Rob and his siblings got up and drove down to Wellington, to Island Bay where they grew up, and scattered Barb's ashes in the ocean.

Barbara

Rob's mum Barbara died in hospital in New Zealand this morning. Rob was with her.  She was diagnosed with lung cancer towards the end of last year and her health had been declining steadily ever since. She was here staying with us just a month ago and although she was clearly a shadow of her former self,  we had a great visit with her with plenty of laughs and a chance to say goodbye. Barbara was very popular and had many friends, many of whom she had known most of her life, and who were still coming to see her until the day she died. Barbara spent her last weeks with all her family around her.  Rob's brother Craig, his sisters Catherine and Helen and Rob's dad Ian, had all been staying near her in Greytown, where she lived for the last few years, and were taking turns caring for her until a fall, that broke her hip, sent her to the hospital in Masterton, where she died. Barbara was a super mother-in-law, always up for a white wine and good long chat. She leaves her four children and an affectionate ex-husband in Ian, and six grandchildren - Nicole and Ryan in Brisbane, William and Libby in London and Scarlett and Florence. She was much loved and will be missed and remembered with affection and a smile by all of us.

Above are a couple of photos of Barbara taken at Florence's christening in July last year. x

Packing

We are about to vanish into a black hole of packing boxes and there maybe radio silence for a week or two on the blog. That last couple of weeks have comprised mainly of trying to fit work and children's activities in around packing and organising all that has to be done before we move in next week. There are now soooo many boxes piled up around the house that we have made a fort in Scarlett's bedroom by throwing a blanket over four of them. I can't complain as I secretly really like packing. Have decided to splurge when it comes to the kitchen however and we are paying for it to be packed for us ( by 'us' I mean 'me' as Rob is not 'into' packing). The hardest bit is knowing when to pack the girls' rooms and all their toys. Yesterday Scarlett asked for something that had already disappeared into a cardboard box abyss. Greg the handyman is working at the house this week knocking the hell out of the hideous blue tiled water feature in the garden (in terrible rain that shows no sign of stopping), planing and rehanging doors now the carpets have been laid and generally being fab and adding more jobs to his list every time I think of something else I know we can't do. Yesterday we went and chose our Jetmaster fireplace and tomorrow, with the girls in daycare, we are off to buy wardrobes for their rooms, curtains, a tv cabinet and a new bathroom vanity unit. All very exciting. Today is my last day at work for 2 weeks. Huzzah.

This week I had to go back to the ABC to visit the Play School set to watch the filming of the epsiode I had seen in rehearsal. At the last minute the Play School director invited Scarlett to come with me. Rob leapt into action and delivered her to the studio to meet me at 10am and we spent two blissful hours meeting the presenters, the toys (there are 3 Humpties), helping make icing for the gingerbread making segment and watching all the action. Scarlett was thrilled and was made a big fuss of by Georgie Parker. I will post pics of this dazzling event when we get the mac set up in the new house.