Happy Halloween

This is what we see every morning

Happy Halloween Everyone! 

We are looking forward to going trick or treating around our street tonight (even if it is raining)! As for the rest of today we will be going for our medical and meeting with our solicitor for the green card process. Hopefully this will be the last step and then it's just a long wait to find out if it goes through okay. 

Fingers Crossed! 

Tooling Around

Calleigh loves to help Daddy when he's doing a bit of D.I.Y. Just recently he has managed to finally fix the lawn mower (it only took six months), this means we no longer have to pay $25 a week to get our lawn mowed and we can put that money towards our savings instead- Woohoo! 

Calleigh loves to copy at the moment and everything Daddy was doing, Calleigh had to do too. I think she would make a pretty good mechanic, she seemed to know what everything was for. 

Playing in the Leaves

There are no words to describe how much fun this was, so I will just show you in photos!

Outfit of the Month: Halloween Costume

This month is Halloween so Calleigh's outfit of the month is her Halloween costume. I decided on a kitty costume this year because of her love for cats. The first time we tried it on she loved it, however she doesn't seem so happy about it now (hence the moody face in all the pictures). I shall see how it goes but we may have to do a last minute change if she is still not keen on it for Halloween. Even if she does look incredibly purrfect in it, I don't want her to be upset so if she doesn't want to wear it I wont make her. It will always save for next year. 

I hate it when she puts her legs through the banister like in that last photo. Although it is all my fault because I wanted to see if I could fit my legs through and she saw me doing it. In fact most of the things she does that she shouldn't is because of me.. Like mother like daughter. 

Gift Ideas for a Girl's 2nd Birthday~ Part 2

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Here are some more ideas I have for Calleigh's 2nd birthday. We have already got the piano and the Doc Mcstuffins medical bag.
I'm getting so excited now, it's almost November which means we can go shopping for all her presents very soon!!!!

Calleigh's First Pet

I would absolutely love love love to get Calleigh a pet cat. She loves them so much and I would love to let her grow up with a kitty. Unfortunately we are only renting at the moment and part of the agreement states that we are not allowed pets, so she will have to wait until we get our own digs before she can have one. 

Nevertheless we always like to take her to the pet store so she can have a look at the kittens, she loves it. She also spends a lot of time watching the fish and gets quite excited watching them swim around. On this particular trip we took we ended up buying a fish tank. I don't know how it happened really. Calleigh and I were off looking at the kittens and when we got back to Daddy he was busy picking out a tank. 

And so last weekend we brought Calleigh her first pet, or pets to be exact. We only got a few tropical fish as because we are going back to England over Christmas we are not sure how they will get on and it would be cruel to have a tank full. We are hoping because there is only a few the vacation feeder we buy will last them for the whole time. 

Peek a Boo

Calleigh looks at them every now and again but doesn't seem too interested now they are in our home. Although she did say goodnight to them last night. I on the other hand love them, I watch them all the time, it's so peaceful. 

We will get you your kitty one day Calleigh, I promise, but lets start off small.

*sorry about some of the photo's being blurry Miss Calleigh got hold of my camera and mucked up the lens and also how hard is it to take photos of fish?*

A Fall Morning Walk

It's getting quite cold here now. We thought we would be good until at least the end of November but it looks like the cold weather is coming in early. I can't complain too much though because it's still lovely and sunny most days and the chill is actually quite nice sometimes. I definitely prefer it to the 100°. 

This particular morning it was cold enough that we needed jumpers but not so much that we needed coats as well. Perfect weather for a walk to the park. Calleigh really enjoyed crunching all the leaves on the way there, I was really happy she managed to walk the whole way too. We did have a quick stop by the little lake as the ducks and geese were there and Calleigh loves to watch them, especially when they stick their bottoms in the air. She was laughing so much. 

We had a good time at the park but didn't stay too long as there was some workers there building something by the pool and the noise was a bit scary for Calleigh. She is not a fan of loud noises bless her. Walking home didn't go so well either as she refused to leave the geese so I ended up carrying her all the way. My arms felt like I had done 1,000,000 press ups by the time we got home. 

Not long after we got home, I was making her dinner, only to walk in and see her fast asleep on the living room floor. 

Obviously that tough walk home knackered her out. 

Simple Chocolate Cake Recipe

I have been playing around with a few basic cake recipes to decide on one for Calleigh's birthday. I still plan on having a Little Einsteins cake made for her but I think we will have to make a few changes after being quoted $125 for it. If we were having a big party I would be okay with spending that on a big cake but with only 3 of us and Calleigh it kind of seems a bit f a waste. 

Here is the recipe for this beauty. Paul even said it was the best chocolate cake he has ever had! Awesome brownie wife points for this.

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup self-raising flour, sifted
• ¾ cup superfine sugar
• ¾ cup soft margarine
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tbsp milk
• ½ cup cocoa powder, sifted
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1¾ cup confectioner's (icing) sugar, sifted
• chocolate sweets to decorate 

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease and line two 8 inch round cake pans. In a large bowl mix together the flour, superfine sugar, margarine, eggs, milk and half the cocoa powder. Beat until the mixture is pale brown and fluffy. 
2. Divide the mixture between the two pans and bake for 20 minutes. The tops should be firm and springy. Once finished turn the cakes onto a wire rack to cool. 
3. In a medium bowl beat together the butter, confectioner's sugar and remaining cocoa until a soft and fluffy buttercream is formed. If necessary you can add milk 1 tbsp at a time to soften the consistency. 
4. When the cakes are cooled spread a layer of buttercream on one half and sandwich the two halves together. Decorate with the remaining buttercream and any decorations you wish. I used milk chocolate Malteasers (well they are whoppers over here) and white sugar balls. 

Yummy! 

Hot Dog

On Friday night we all went to a Chilli Cook Off at a Bluebird Park. 

It was great, one of the best little nights out we have had out here. Calleigh was in such a good mood and the whole evening just seemed to go really well. We paid a small sum of $3 each (for Daddy and I) and that got us a taste of each of the Chilli's in the competition. The first one we tried was easily the winner in our eyes, it was by far one of the best I have ever tasted. 

After we had tried all of the Chilli's Paul was still a little peckish so decided to get himself a hot dog to tie him over. Well, so he thought. He ended up just eating the bun as Calleigh took the sausage off him haha. 

I found it hilarious watching Paul eat an empty hot dog roll. 

I had a lovely slice of Homemade Apple Pie which Calleigh left all to me before we headed off to the park to let Calleigh have a good play. She had been so good all night we let her stay for a long time. 

She adores the slide so much its crazy. That is literally all she did for about half and hour. 

It was a bit too dark to take any photos (good ones anyway) and there were far too many kids running around to try to take any. 

I don't think Calleigh was too pleased about the amount of kids that were there. At one point a girl wanted to go down the slide that Calleigh was on until she shouted at her and the poor kid ran off. I think we may have to have the sharing talk some time soon haha. 

Gift Ideas for a Girl's 2nd Birthday

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Calleigh's second birthday is now just over 6 weeks away and I already have a super long list of what I want to get her. Listed above are some of the things I am sure of.
This will be very diffrerent to her first birthday. She is much more aware of toys and characters and the choice of toys is much wider than that for a one year old.
She loves to pretend play so the kitchen is a must have. I can't count how many times I've seen her put on the oven gloves and play with the saucepans and pots.
She loves to colour and scribble on things so a little art station will be great to aid with her creativity and also save the furniture a little bit.

I'm really excited to start shopping for things and I can't wait for the day Calleigh gets to open them all. She loves it when she gets packages so I think this year she will really enjoy opening her presents.

As we will be in England for Christmas we are using her Birthday to give her all of the big presents to save us spending a fortune in shipping costs. 

Painting

We had a go at painting the other day. I printed some fun Halloween/Fall shapes out for Calleigh and I to colour in. I covered the table with a sheet before hand as I knew we would end up with paint everywhere. And I wasn't wrong, we ended up with paint on the carpet, on the sofa and all over Calleigh. Let's just say we won't be trying it again any time soon, at least not until we get our own house. As much as it was really good fun and I enjoyed watching Calleigh be creative, it was always in the back of my mind that this was not our furniture. 

Luckily most of the paint came off Calleigh easily in the bath, but I cant say the carpet had such luck. 

Oops. 

I also had to give her the dummy half way through to stop her eating the paint. Why? I don't know. I mean it doesn't even look appetizing!