Chocolate Crackles!!!

We finally made chocolate crackles!!!!!! YUM!!!! For those of you that know how easy it is to make crackles you are probably wondering why I am so excited. Well to start with there is no such thing as copha in this country!!! After a little investigation (as you can imagine there have been lots of other Aussie's that got here and had crackle cravings), we decided the best bet was to use coconut oil in place of the copha. The other issue was the coconut, here you can not buy desiccated coconut, the coconut is shredded and wet, not dry like we use for crackles and lamingtons etc. We overcame this problem by running the shredded stuff through the blender for a minute and it seemed to work ok. Anyway the result was crackles that tasted just as good as we remembered :) Charlotte had 2 in her first sitting and got angry when I wouldn't give her more!!! Ted has been eating them too, so they must be ok as he isn't into real sweet things.

Other news from this week......we have a new addition to the Aussie's in Virginia Beach, our friends JT and Katie had a little baby boy on Friday, Jayden Phillip (lucky they didn't steal our boys name) :) Only 3 and a bit weeks until Baby Budd is due, I have a check up at the OB's tomorrow, hopefully all is going well. I would like more sleep at night but I think that's wishful thinking for at least the next 6 months :) Good news is Katie used the same hospital as I will and she said they were very good, and the food is nice, weird for a hospital.

Ted had a busy Saturday looking after Charlotte as I discovered there was a Scrapbooking Convention on here in Virginia Beach!! After visiting baby Jayden, I spent the rest of the day spending money and doing classes at the convention. I had a great time, but was absolutely exhausted when I got home. Hence Sunday we all stayed home and did not a lot.

I have added a few photos of Charlotte from the play area again, this was this afternoon, Ted finished up at work early so we went for a quick play before dinner. Hope everyone is well :)

P.S. the pic with the boots is just Charlotte being silly in Daddy's boots, thought you would like to see :)

August 26th

Nothing much has changed this week, just took some photos of our little fairy in the front garden that I thought some of u might like to see :) Also some of Charlotte at the play area just a short walk up the road. She had a ball with Daddy climbing on the equipment, apparently both Daddy and Charlotte went down the 'Big' slide for the 1st time!!!

I hear the Swans are going to make the finals.........Cheer Cheer the Red and the White :) I think I'm due Grand Final weekend........that could be a disaster!!!! Hopefully we will be able to have a Grand Final party here with the other Aussies.

From Charlotte

Hi everyone, it's Charlotte. It's my turn to write on the blog (with Mummy's help of course) :)

The last 2 weeks have been fun, Mummy says the house is almost organised, only a few things here and there we need to do like put some pictures up. We managed to buy an Australian Flag off the internet so we could hang it up out the front. I helped Daddy put it up after I played dress up's with it for a while. We all think it looks pretty good, I like the stars!! Mummy took some photos from the street so everyone can see what the house looks like from outside, in one photo you might be able to see Daddy and I hanging the flag.

We also had a visitor stay a few nights, Kagan Graham the puppy dog. He was lots of fun to have around, we all enjoyed having a puppy around for a few days. Mummy said she will put a photo of Kagan and I on here so you can see him.

Not long now until I'm a big sister, Mummy's belly is getting bigger everyday!! Only just over 5 weeks to go. I am very excited that we will have our 1st visitor from Australia soon too, Grandpa is due to arrive in 4 weeks, I can't wait :) Then only about a month after that Nanna Stroud is coming to visit. Mummy says she is looking forward to them visiting too so that they can help with the house work!!

Lots of Hugs and kisses from me in Virginia Beach, got to go watch Dora xxoo

p.s. Mummy said to tell everyone that the Australian Mobile phones have been switched off, so don't bother calling them :) If you didn't get the email with our new contact details email Mummy and she can let you know what they are :) BYE

Hi, just a few quick photos of Charlotte playing in the back yard with her new slide. The people that own the house gave it to us. It was meant to be for their grandkids but they had no where to put it, lucky for Charlotte. As you can see she likes it!!

Baby Budd update as well. We are fast approaching 33 weeks, yep only 7 to go!! Had an appointment with the OB yesterday, all is looking good, Budd is measuring normal and the heat beat is going like crazy (normal for a bub). Charlotte was very excited to hear the baby's heat beat, she still can not decide if it's a boy or girl!! We sorted through all Charlotte's neutral baby clothes (we have a lot, and they are so cheap here, can't wait to go blue or pink shopping!!), and both ted and I were amazed at how small things were. Ted suggested I need to eat more so the baby grows and isn't so small when it comes out..........as you can imagine I think the opposite!!! We both have fingers crossed that the "looking after a newborn" thing comes back quickly as we have forgotten!!!

The New House

Well we made it into our new house............finally :)

We got the keys on the 18th (hence no blog since then) and all our loan furntiure arrived on the 19th, I think we were both pretty happy with what we picked out, and it seems that it has all fitted in with plently of space. We are still waiting on a few things, like a sofa bed and dresser for the main bedroom, but nothing we can't live without. There is plently of room for visitors, and we have decked out the FROG (finished room over garage) with a bed for all those that come to stay.

The 20th we had delivery of all our goods from Australia, we had been told that somethings were damaged so were not looking forward to unpacking. Thankfully there was only one box that was damaged, and all of the contents survived!!! The only thing that broke was a wine glass that I smashed taking it out of the dishwasher later that day, oops :)

Since then we have spent a lot of time shopping to get things that we forgot, or electrical stuff that the furniture company pays for. Ted took a few photos of our 1st trip to Walmart (yes it is scary, but so cheap). All the stuff in the photo we got for about $250!! Crazy :)

Ted is very happy that the furniture company also provided him with a ride on lawn mower.........I'm just glad about the King size bed, all three of us fit (me, Ted and my body pillow!!!) I'm also very happy with the kitchen here, big and new and the oven is self cleaning, what more could a girl want???

As for Charlotte she has successfully spread her toys from one end of the house to the other, I need to buy her a toy box or something similar for her room, it's on my list :) She is loving her new bed, complete with Dora Duvet (bed spread), we have just put a side rail on the bed, as she has fallen out a few times, poor little princess, Mummy and Daddy only got her a single bed (for the last month in hotels and the appartment she got used to sleeping in a double!!)

We took Charlotte for a tour of the hospital were Baby Budd will be born. She had to take a dolly with her to learn how to put a diaper on (hehe, I mean nappy). We also saw the special room where the baby will be born and the room where mummy will stay over, as well as the special crib the baby will sleep in. The midwife talked to the kids about how they need to be quite when the baby is sleeping (yeah good luck) and how it is very important to wash your hands before touching the baby. I think Charlotte is starting to figure out that something is going on, when we got home she asked where the baby was..........I told her it wasn't cooked yet :)

My new OB practice here seems pretty good, I'm trying to see every doctor before Budd arrives as they take it in turns on call. Hopefully whoever it ends up being is good. Only about 8 1/2 weeks to go now, then we will be a family of 4!!! All the neighbours seem excited that there will be a new baby around..........most of their grandkids are 4 or 5, so the ladies are very excited!! As soon as we moved in, both the neighbours on either side and the ones across the road came over to say hi, and we got brownies, yum!!! Everyone is very friendly here.

Ted says work is pretty slow, he has been lucky enough to take a few hours off here and there to look after Charlotte while I go to dr's appointments and things. He got out for a game of golf on the weekend with the other Aussie's here, the boys played golf while the girls drank vodka, well those that could!! I am now able to get my personalised number plates, we were trying to think of Aussie words to use (max 7 letters), I think we should get 'SHELIA' on the Nissan & 'BLOKE' on the Stang :) One of the other Aussie families here already has 'AUS5IE' I might check for other combinations, please send any suggestions :)

The Stang!!

Its my turn to write again (I have to contribute at some stage!)..... Today we bought our second car. We have discovered that the modern nuclear family of the US must have at least two cars, or three if you can afford it..... we are going with two. Jenn got sick of having to drop me off at work in the morning so there was a little prodding for me to make a decision on which car to buy.

..... I got a Mustang!!!! And yes I will let Jenn drive it every so often. We figured, when in Rome.... so we now have an American Muscle car! To be original, I think I will call it "The Stang". Charlotte has been walking around the apartment practicing saying "Daddy bought a Stang!" We think she likes it..... please see photos.

Washington DC - Pt 3

More photos from DC, most are self explanatory, any questions please ask. NO we did not make Charlotte sit and pose for the photo looking down towards the Reflection Pool, and YES it was raining!!