Hound

We have a new addition to our family, please welcome Sampson McDuff our beautiful 9 week old, black labrador puppy!

I have never owned a dog in my life, and neither has G but I have been talking about it for the past 2 years when I fell in love with the beagle breed. G always put his foot down (and rightfully so) as I don't think we were really ready for the responsibility of dog ownership then. The subject had come up again recently, partly as a school mum had offered me her beagle for free but also after seeing the Guide Dog, Ollie on the recent Australian series of Big Brother. I think that was when I switched to researching labradors and found out what a fantastic gentle breed they are and how perfect they are for a household with kids and cats. I have only ever known a couple of labs but they were big gentle giants.
So shortly after I start getting into the whole labrador research, along comes Amanda who announces her family has just picked up their new black labrador puppy, Bella to be a companion for 2 year old Lucy ( a yellow labrador) I see the pics of Bella and fall more in love with the breed than ever, a few days later while chatting on MSN with Amanda the next planet seemed to move into alignment when she mentioned the breeder was headed to Adelaide the next day to sell the two male black lab pups left, she gave me their number and I started *really* doing my homework on vaccination costs, microchipping costs,registration,de-sexing etc so I was very prepared when G came home from work and could give him all the information that he would ask. We had previously talked about getting a big family fish tank around Xmas time but I really felt that long term a puppy with which the kids could be more interactive with would be much more fun than fish.
We talked about it a lot that night and the next morning G gave me the go ahead to call the breeder and arrange to view the pup. The next planet fell into alignment when we found that the breeders were actually staying just down the road from us, less than 5 minutes drive from our house! We met our pup on Saturday evening and after a big doggy shopping spree we brought him home at lunchtime on Sunday.
The kids had no clue at all what we had been planning so when G picked them up from my Mum's where they had spent the day while we prepared the house and brought pup home, they were completely stunned to walk down the hallway and have a little black bundle of energy come charging down the hallway to meet them.
So he's been with us two weeks now, and was finally named Sampson McDuff on Saturday.
Sampson was his fathers name, and also just a good strong name, McDuff means "son of black" plus Amanda is forever calling me a Duffa too so it seemed well suited.
He's been very good settling in, and he made laugh earlier in the week when I was showering Scarlett and he found his way into the bathroom, saw the shower was on and with barely a second of hesitation he jumped right in with Scarlett! He's definitely a water loving dog! I can't wait to get a little more basic obedience started with him, we have found a trainer that is going to come to our house and show us how to set Sam some boundaries and hopefully show us how to stop him nipping our feet and fingers.

Goals

I set myself two goals at the beginning of the year and am very happy at the progress I am making with the first one, and no......I don't think blogging more regularly was one of my goals! It's a slow and steady goal and when i am more settled with it I will come back and talk about it more here, it's also leading me ever closer to my second goal for the year..but one thing at a time eh?

G

My absolute best friend in the entire world, the love of my life, my true soul mate, and luckily for me..my husband! Without a doubt he is the most loving, thoughtful,loyal, sensible, funny and gorgeous guy. If you had known me as a teen/young adult he's the kind of guy you would never have expected me to end up with but he is so perfect for me..my better half without a doubt, he just completes me in a way I never knew possible. I used to really hate that whole "better half" cliche..I mean I am my own person, I am a whole person I didn't need a guy in my life to be happy, and then I met G..and suddenly I got what they meant by that cliche.
I know in the beginning many people had our doubts about our relationship, they thought it was ridiculous, they thought we were too young but again the cliches rang in my ears and sometimes "you just know" and it doesn't have to make sense to anyone else.

Gwen Stefani

She rocks! Apart from the fun music and the fact she is a true beauty she also lends her name to a gorgeous fragrance called L.A.M.B which I just bought on the weekend and it is divine. I can't wait to go out tonight just so I can wear it.

{Flipping heck}
It's been a long time since I last blogged, mostly for the reason that I was stuck at letter F. I am now inspired to write about F though so F is for....

{Family,Fun,Freedom,Farm Beach, Fabulous and Fresh Air}
In a nutshell we have just come back from an amazing holiday to Port Lincoln, what a gorgeous part of the country it is too! I have never been there before but it has been on our wishlist since I met the wonderful Ms Amanda a couple of years ago. We'd been reluctant to travel so far with the kids to be honest after our trip to Victor Harbour as Scar is not the most patient kid in a car and the prospect of 7-8 hours with her was a bit daunting, but full credit where it's due the kids were nothing short of awesome all the way there and it was a lovely drive despite me losing my voice on the way there.
Our holiday unit was really nice, I admit much nicer than I expected which was a pleasant surprise and had a fantastic view overlooking Porter Bay.

I woke up on the first full day there with absolutely no voice at all. I was putting so much effort into trying to talk and was getting nothing but a whisper out so we decided to head into Port Lincoln for a look around and also a chemist stop to see if they could help with my voice.
The foreshore along Pt Lincoln was spectacular, a jetty overlooking the beautiful Boston Bay along with the grain silos and a large ship docked there also just made for a lovely view with the contrasting green of the foreshore grass and big statute of the famous Makybe Diva race horse.
In the afternoon we headed to Cummins to visit with Amanda, her husband and 3 girls. I have to say I was really excited to see where Amanda lived, and it certainly did not disappoint. After getting a little stuck in the middle of Cummins with no directions to Amanda's house and no network coverage on my phone we finally arrived and I was blown away by their hospitality. We were taken on a farm tour by Amanda and her husband to see all the farm equipment, and it was an absolute blast! I learned a lot and I know G did too as he keeps telling everyone all about the stuff he learned. The kids had fun climbing all over it, and Abs was tickled to get a ride in the back of the ute. Afterwards we headed over to Tumby Bay and had a delicious meal at the pub there.
I can't even begin to express the feeling of sheer contentment I felt as I sat at our table watching our two families sharing a meal together, talking, playing and getting along so well. It was definitely a moment I will treasure for a very long time.

On Saturday morning we headed to the Glen Forest Animal Park, unfortunately it was really hot but the kids thoroughly enjoyed it especially as they were able to hand feed so many of the animals but I think the definite highlight for us all was the feeding of the birds in the aviary.

Later that afternoon we made our way up to Winter's Hill Lookout which overlooks the stunning Boston Bay, and we could see the whole of Port Lincoln up there.

The next day I think by far was the best day. We met up with Amanda and her family at Coffin Bay and drove into the Coffin Bay National Park where Greg took us to the most amazing beach I have ever seen. It was a bit of a trek down the sand dunes to get onto the beach but so worth the walk. I have never seen such pristine water at a beach before, the sand was so soft and unspoiled. The water was not good for letting the kids swim though as you could see the strong currents there and even paddling was difficult as the water had such a pull on it but there was plenty to do still as we strolled down the beach and found some great rockpools for the kids to play about in. Plenty of shells were collected and the kids had a great time exploring.

After Golden Island Beach we headed back through Coffin Bay and out to Farm Beach which was the most perfect family beach, the water was so clear and calm and perfect for the kids to have a good splash about. You could easily see the bottom of the sea and there were no rocks or anything to worry about with the kids. We stayed there for quite a while as it was so refreshing in the water. We eventually pulled ourselves out of the water and headed back to reality, and Amanda's Dad's place where we all got showered and changed before heading to Amanda's friend's house for a divine BBQ dinner. Honestly they were such nice friendly people, and put on a lovely spread for us all, they even had sliced potatoes on the BBQ just like my Dad used to make....I hadn't had any for such a long time.

The next day it was time to pack up and head home, I know none of us really wanted the fun to end and so we stopped by Amanda's one last time to say goodbye. Abbey was so upset to say goodbye to Georgia and Kelsey but we are hoping to see them all again very soon. I did understand how she felt though and as we headed out of Manda's driveway I couldn't help feeling teary. She is such a top chick with a heart of gold and I wish we could hang out more as we have so much in common and never seem to fall into awkward silences when together. I can't wait to see her again.

Drive home was great, kids behaved beautifully again and I can easily see us doing more trips away now the twins are older. All in all a brilliant little holiday which had us all relaxed and enjoying ourselves. Result!

England
I lived in England from Oct 1996 until May 1998. I loved it there, and can't say a bad thing about it. I know heaps of people think it's cold and horrible but I much prefer cold weather and rather enjoyed that freezing face feeling as you walk through the middle of Cambridge in the dark at 5pm! It's quite invigorating.
I also have a lot of family in England, cousins, aunts, uncles not to mention my sister and her gorgeous two girls so England is somewhere I really feel at home and it's been way too long since I have been back. We managed to go back in 2001 for my sister's wedding and it was really hard to leave everyone to come home again. We often talk about whether we made the right choice to live in Australia but both agree that we did the right thing. We would never have been able to afford the house or the lifestyle we have now if we had stayed, and I am so in love with Abs school that I don't think any British school would come close. It still doesn't make me miss England any less though, our lovely local pub, the frosty weather, pet hamsters and the REAL Christmas with snow and fun and family and the gorgeous old buildings in the middle of town.

Enchiladas
Yummo..especially chicken ones! I used to think my favourite ones ever were from Zapata's in North Adelaide but G and I started making them ourselves using Old El Paso stuff and now I think I like ours the best. For a while there we were having them every weekend but we thought that was just getting a bit naughty so we are trying to cut down on them and not eat them so much.

{Disney}
When I lived in Cambridge I worked for the Disney Store which opened up on Petty Cury. I was really nervous when I went to my interview and had never done a group interview before either. It was also my first job interview in the UK and I was stoked when got it.
We got to set up the store from scratch. and wear the most lovely uniform, khaki shorts, white shirts and a vibrant two tone blue cardigan! We had to greet people on the door, and be super duper friendly at all times but that was so easy as the work was mostly really fun. I made some lovely friends there but have lost contact now with all but about 2 of them now.
I have some fantastic memories from working there..like the time a little girl came into the store and she had bought me a gift as I had been so friendly to her when I had served her just a short time before. I was so touched but apparently she had insisted to her Mum that they go get me a gift..bless her it made my day.
Opening day at the store was fantastic too, we had loads of other Disney Store workers who came to our store just to help out and there was a radio competition where kids could win a breakfast at one of the hotels around the corner and would get to meet Mickey and Minnie and I was thrilled to bits to be able to help co-host the breakfast and meet some of the kids.

Here's some pics from Opening Day!

{Digiscrapping}
I completely, 100% blame KateF for my addiction to digiscrapping! She told me to try it and helped me out on a few questions I had..and then I was off. I think that would have been back around Feb of 2005 and I haven't stopped scrapping since. I have not only got loads of great pages to share with the kids when they are older but have also met the most incredible bunch of friends whose love, support and friendship mean the world to me. As someone who is severely challenged when it comes to being arty I was thrilled to find that digiscrapping was actually something I could do. It didn't cost a ton of money (well not in the beginning!) and I didn't have to use scissors or glue which was a huge plus for someone like me. I love having a creative outlet and both my Mum and MIL reap the benefits of lots of lovely scrap albums.

Dad

This is a particularly hard post to write as today is the 5th Anniversary of my Dad's death. I generally try not to dwell on these things and keep extra busy which has worked well today but being that I am due to blog D and he is on my mind I may as ramble for a bit.
He was a pretty busy kind of Dad, I vaguely recall a time when I was fairly young that he worked two jobs. One his normal day job at the Defence place in Salisbury and then also night fill for Woolworths I think it was. I do remember playing with him a good amount as a kid though, backyard cricket, swimming and he would take us up to Para Wirra Recreation park fairly regularly and we would go on long walks and go bird watching.
Twice a year we would head off in the Big Brown Beast (aka Dad's Valiant) to Wallaroo and spend a week or so there, Dad would take us fishing every day, we'd catch worms in the seaweed, build sandcastles on the beach, go crabbing around the rock pools and play frisbee.
I would say that he and I always had a good relationship even from my childhood. I don't think he ever got too mad at me for anything as I was too much of a Daddy's girl to ever want to make him mad at me. I did get in trouble but I wasn't a terrible trouble making kid or anything. I know he used to be frustrated with me at times when I couldn't understand maths homework even though he had just spent a considerable part of the evening explaining it to me but looking back I was really lucky to have a Dad that would actually spend so much time trying to help me out with my homework.
I know he would have liked me to have more direction in my life, perhaps work a bit harder and go to Uni but it wasn't really me and so when I ended up doing waitressing and then onto retail he didn't really understand it. He wasn't a people person and didn't get why I would enjoy working with customers all day, but I did.
I do have to say what a wonderful Dad he was when I met G, the internet was pretty different back then but he was pretty cool with the whole thing and didn't mind too much that I spent copious amounts of time and money talking with G into the wee small hours online. I love that my Dad really liked my choice in husband. It certainly made it much easier than some of my previous relationships with guys he hadn't liked (even if he was right about them all along!) It was also nice that when he and Mum came to the UK for our wedding that he got along so well with G's parents, so well in fact that they all went out for a day and left us behind!
I do wish he was still here, I hate that he has missed out on so much of Abbey's life, and it is so unfair he never got to meet the twins. He and Joe are so alike and I think they would have had a wonderful time together.

More D's about me to come in a future post.

Cat

I am a cat person, always have been, always will be. The only time I ever in my whole life recall not living with a cat is when I lived in Cambridge and we weren't allowed a cat in our unit....so we bought a hamster! He was great but no substitute for the love and affections of a feline friend.
This may sound strange to some but I honestly don't know how things with G would have gone if he hadn't also been a cat person, at least to some degree. I don't think I could have married someone who didn't like cats, or who wouldn't want to own one.
So I guess this brings me to my news of the day......
This morning we adopted a gorgeous new furbaby from the Animal Welfare League. We had popped in yesterday to see about getting a new cat scratching post and just couldn't resist wandering through to see the cats. Somehow it was easy to walk past the first enclosure full of teeny tiny fluffballs that were just 12 weeks old...but when we saw our girl in her own enclosure you could almost hear the audible thud as we literally both fell in love with her. We talked a lot about it over night and we just could not get her out of our head, I could not bear the thought of her being put to sleep if we left her there, so we went back for her first thing this morning.
She has stunning green eyes, a beautiful temperament and is so gentle for a 12 month old. She is yet to be named (feel free to leave a suggestion) and she looks so at home here already.
Here's a pic

Carefree

I used to not care what people thought of me, it wasn't something I really dwelled on. I used to not think twice about larking around with my mates in toy stores, or singing out loud in public places, or jumping on a train to head interstate or even doing cartwheels down the main shopping street of Adelaide.
That all seems to have changed now, I am much more quiet and reserved now and border on terminally shy. I don't like to be noticed, I prefer to just blend into the background and watch everything go on around me. I get very nervous at the prospect of meeting new people in large groups, especially if they all know each other but I am getting there and have met some awesome friends over the last 12 months and we now hang out in a large group.

Camera

My other baby, my Canon 350D! As many of you know in the last 12 months or more my love of photography has really grown and begun to flourish more. I love my camera and all it can do and only wish I understood more of it's capabilities but I know it's a gradual learning curve and I would rather learn one thing at a time properly, then several things in a half arsed way.
One day I hope to actually outgrow my camera and upgrade but I feel a long way off that for now so am happy to just potter along for now learning what I can.

Corey Feldman

Well I figured this is an encyclopaedia about me, and he was a huge part of my teen years and he was literally EVERYWHERE on my bedroom walls,my wardrobe, my dressing table and the sides of my mirror. My mum even made me a birthday cake one year with him on. I used to watch his movies over and over and repeat all his lines off by heart, as you do at that age I suppose!

Celebrations

Tomorrow is the two year anniversary of my blog ...so Happy Birthday Blog!!

Blog

Well as you can see Poppy Monkey Musings has relocated to a new home. Please bear with me as I find my way around my new home and get to grips with all the things I now have to learn.
I haven't been a very good blogger lately but I do enjoy it. I think my primary reason for blogging is it's a great place to dump my thought load at times, there often seems to be so much going on in the everyday that it can be a little overwhelming.
I also like that I can note down the little things that make me grateful to have what I have, my amazing husband, my friends, my kids, our home, and our extended family. I like looking back on little things the kids have said or done, or milestones they have reached, places we have been etc.

Beach

I love the beach, but I am just not a sit-on-the-sand-all-day type of beach person. I like to paddle in the water, make some sandcastles, walk along it, fly a kite, maybe even swim a little but I just can't lay on a towel for hours at a time.
We headed down to the beach last night after dinner as it was such a stinking hot day here yesterday. Was lovely to just wander along with the kids splashing in the water as we went along. Scarlett has come along way with her fear of the beach, even this time last year she wouldn't go near the water at Victor Harbour and stayed up near the dunes for the most part. Last night she was wading in up to her knees and having a grand time.
My all time favourite beach is still North Beach at Wallaroo. Many many good times there as a child, and I am looking forward to taking our tribe back there sometime (hopefully) this coming year. Our last trip there was somewhat unsuccessful and Scarlett cried the whole time we were on the beach, didn't want her feet on the sand or anything. I think she would enjoy it a lot more now.

Babies
I don't think there was ever a time when I didn't think I would want children at some stage, then I got to the point after Abbey was born that I only wanted one child. I had a lot of negative comments about her being an only child, people really thought it was a bad idea but I was happy to just go with what we felt was right for us and for 3.5 years all was fine. Somehow after that time I started getting broody for more, and after a year of talking it through with G on and off we decided to have baby #2. We had always (well prior to having Abbey) said we would have 2-3 kids, never in our wildest dreams did we expect to get babies #2 AND #3 in one go.
Even during that first year of twins we were both very much feeling the urge to have baby #4. The second year of twins was somewhat more challenging and I can honestly say now that I have no real desire to add another child to our family now. I never thought I would know when I was "done" having kids, I couldn't understand how the feeling of wanting a newborn snuggled into you could just vanish, but I have to say it has. Whilst I would love the cuddliness of a newborn I am really happy with where we are at as a family right now. We can just pick up and go and not have to think about nappies, sleep times, food etc We can book holiday accommodation without struggling to find somewhere to fit two portacots, and we can sit anywhere we like in a food court without the hassle of trying to fit a double pram amongst the tables as well.

I set down a challenge at Pickleberrypop which you can read all about here and it was inspired by my most gorgeous friend Amanda and her blog (click on the link in my blogroll and check out her A-Z!)
So here we go....

{Abbey}

Well how could I start with anything other than my first born daughter, Abigail.
According to the baby name book we used, her name means "fathers joy" and she most definitely is a joy 99% of the time. She is so smart and just soaks up the most amazing amounts of information from anywhere she can get it. She is really into reading, writing, art and music..a very creative soul. I have noticed over the last couple of years that she is much shyer than she used to be, she doesn't like being the centre of attention and having all eyes on her. Her voice is very quiet when she speaks (unless she is shouting at her siblings of course then the whole neighbourhood can hear her!) She used to sing endlessly around the house when she was smaller and now she stops singing if she even gets an inkling that someone is listening to her.
I think that's one of the reasons she enjoys piano so much, she gets to play music but gets to sit up the back of the band!
She's growing up fast now, she is getting more independant and I am finding I allow her to choose her own clothing more, her hairstyles..and now this weekend it's her ears pierced (she swears she is really going through with it this time but there again at age 5 she vowed and declared she would never ever have her ears pierced!)
She has a wonderful circle of friends at school, but I wish she had more friends outside of school, I guess in time she will as she participates in more activities etc.

{Angel, Awesome, Amazing, Artistic}

Oh forget it..how about

{All Of The Above}

Every one of those words describe the gorgeous, {Amanda} She is the most kind, non-judgemental person I have ever met, and I love that I can tell her anything and she gets where I am coming from. When you ask her something, she gives you the straight no nonsense answer you need and I love her dearly for that. She makes me laugh, and she has made me cry with joy, she's always there when I need her and I hope that she knows that I am always here for her too.
We only met online a bit over two years ago and we manage to speak at the very very least once a week now, but normally 2-3 times a week. We have so much in common, we share a love of scrapping, of photography, we both have twins, both live in SA , both born on the 13 of a month (in the same year too!) and the list goes on. We've managed to meet up about 3 times now and I have met her husband and her 3 delightful daughters. I always feel so sad when we say goodbye and she heads back to the country, like a little piece of me has broken.
Amanda is also very very humble and doesn't recognise what amazing talent she has, she is so creative in so many ways I could only dream about but she doesn't think what she does is that special. I hope one day she realizes just how truly talented she is. Love you chick.

{Attitude}

No I don't have one!