BrewhouseHarris/Ducharm

The serious buisiness of brewing has been called to order.....and the meeting is concluded about 10 seconds later - and the waiting of the water to boil begins....



The brewmasters - Brad, George and Matt

4 hours later and the adding of various ingredients begins



Alls well that ends well - however this brew ended in spilled blood so we will wait to see the verdict on the brew in a month.At this late point after HOURS of brewing - the operation turned a bit arse end up.
Wedge time!

a midnight run to the servo to get ice - and lots of it - to cool down the prebeer to the right temp before adding the yeast - we all went to bed - drunk and happy.The finished product the next day - and a proud apprentice brewmaster!

boys and balls

Enjoying an arvo with our dog Fred. Fred got off his leash when I picked up J from daycare last week- he was missing for two days - during which Brad, J and I were like lost sheep barely talking to each other - thankfully Fred smelled his way home on the second night at 2:30 am - stinking of skunk and a bit worse for wear but alive and loving being home.
throwing the ball on the roof and watching for it to drop - also in big news of the week Jackson is catching the ball! At 2 yrs 5 months he is now able to throw better than me and catch as well as me - he has a great throwing arm on him and we practiced touch downs in the evening with friends George and Jen
cute boy.
kicking - we love to try out soccer skills
ummm - ballerina style running?
p.s how cute is he in his little undies!

Crawdad days and Brisco farm

This is a picture for my dad and mum - a snow cone machine where you put your own flavors on a the stand.
Ole John enjoying a turkey leg - we went to Crawdad days in Harrison - a yearly event where people eat small creatures that came out of the dirt and seem to really enjoy it.
Jackson did not share any of his popcorn - and for those of you who don't recognize this man it is my husband incognito.
I love J's look in this photo - he had just spent the afternoon running round the Prater yard chasing Dragons and listening for sounds - he is getting into touching my belly now that it sticks out - he will also poke at my boobs. lovely. Brad and I spent the day at Branson - and we enjoyed it more than we thought - it was like we were dating - not having to shop with a two year old is actually fun!
I'm all belly at only 22 weeks.

Chillin out in the yard
Our main visit to the Brisco plantation - where our great friends Jim and Sarah are starting a goat heard, we really had a great time catching up, while Jackson has officially wooed Sarah. He smoothed down her hair while sitting on the couch as he was getting sleepy that night, then ended his lovin's by holding her face with both hands and kissing her - he is a serious ladies man.

Jackson trying out the goat food - we got out one of the babies for him to play with.
Jim Brisco aka Goat man.
Calling the herd
and the peice de resistance - beer brewing 101 - kegs. Notice the nice clean and treated floor of our garage - it is a two car garage - with an alcove - and I am no longer allowed to park in it! I have been shoved out in place of beer. Hmmmmm.

Well i was getting sick of my own blog - only have one comp working and as Brad uses it pretty much 22 hours a day my time is limited - since i last blogged I turned 31! our pregnancy is going great - baby is great. Above is out first real auction bids - we went out on Mothers day and loved it - although we could barely understand what was going on we managed to come home with a few great peices for pennies on the dollar. I went to my first American bridal shower which was so beautiful - and most everyone wanted to know if i would be having a baby shower - as i already have one child I said no - but am happy to report I will be having a sip and see (kind of a southern thing) where people can come and hang out and actually see the baby a few weeks after we are home - I do plan to register for this as by then i will know what I am missing/need and also we pretty much left every item of anything baby related in Australia and I am sure most everyone understands this so wont be offended by the Registery - i hope - i am new at the registery thing. I am already looking forward to the sip and see which is months away - also my mum will be here then and I know she would want to be invloved in any baby shower type thing as she also missed out on J's baby shower as we were in Tassie.

The biggest news of the week is J pooped on the toilet - i was thinking a small ball of poop would come out - but no it was a giagantic crap bigger than most of mine! I swear it was half the leangth of him and Brad was truley amazed - because of course we had to show daddy our first poop in the toilet. I am very proud of my big boy - who is also 4 days without any major accidents at school or home and is wearing underwear all day - even at nap he is waking up dry and making it to the toilet on time. I am sure we will still have set backs - but once summer is over so should the nappies be - just in time for number 2 to start all again.

Oh for my actual birthday Brad had planned a suprise trip to San Fran - which we did not go to as I accepted a late invitation to Disney on ice with Bob and Vicki and Sharon, Matt and all the kids - i didn't want J to not get to enjoy time with his cousins just cause it was my birthday. It wasn't the dream weekend getaway in San Fran that Brad had planned - but we are heading out there soon for a week to enjoy some sun and summer fun with Allen and Angie for Ashlyn's birthday and plan to make up for the missed weekend then - ie - Allen and Angie will be babysitting a night so we can soak up the amazing west coast vibe. (hope this will be o.k Angie!! :)
I did however get a beautiful cake made by Nee Nee - and J absolutly thought it was great and still remembers the grass around the ladybug as we were just looking at carpet in lowes today and he pointed out green ladybug grass.
He is obsessed with finding ladybugs in the yard and Brad has taught him to blow them and then he will chase them - somehow find the same one and start the game all over again.
Cheers!

o.k so this was almost the end of Easter lunch - Jackson has blue teeth from a lolliepop, and I am just not so great from this angle with the high shine factor people palm off as glowing pregnancy thing.
Uncle Jim's trophy room - notice the fish on the wall - above us is a "reindeer" so J informed us. in fact their are 2 - plus a stuffed bobcat, multiple furs of various kinds and general hunting/fishing/ goodies.
Heaven on Easter for a two year old boy.
two of the three family tables as we sit down to lunch
Lauren, her mum Donna and me around the food.
Parker, Lauren and Jim in the dining room area.
A get-together at Lynda's house a while ago - Angie, Christopher, Allen , me and Brad
Is that my dad??
HOLY MOLLY! J's face was PRICELESS and made everyone laugh - he was pretty freaked out by the wig.

We had a great Easter - I hope my family reads this as the skype phone is out of action this past few days - hope you guys had a great Easter too!

It started out with J opening the door to my room (he had come in about 6:30 and didn't get up until 8:30 after a late night egg coloring) and I had a trail of those plastic eggs filled with little animals, and papermachae eggs filled with confetti - he was so excited to fill his little bag with the eggs and as it was pouring rain outside he had a big time finding all the eggs over the house. He loved shaking the confetti out - all over the house - and I loved it too it was heaps of fun. The trail led him to the kitchen table where the mother ship of Easter eggs had landed - along with presents galore. The most extravagant handpainted eggs you have ever seen - with his name handpainted on one. New books, puzzles and the favorite - a big blue whale and scuba man set from playmobile. So the reason for all this extravagance?

The Easter Bunny takes dummies. you call them binkies/pacifiers.

He takes them to give to little tiny babies and in exchange gives boys all the chocolate and presents a boy could ever want.

It worked

The Easter bunny gave Jackson a new blanky (his old blanky normally has the dummy attached to a corner) and the new blankie is special - if he holds it really tight it will help him go to sleep or nap in the day - because it is a special blankie. Last night he cried and cried for an hour - kept getting up, he was not asking for his dummy - but he was UPSET! Eventually after Brad going in around 10 times, he finally fell asleep as I rubbed his back - and slept through in his own bed until this morning and was happy to go to day care with his new special blankie. He did ask for his dummy sookie for day care - we talked about the new special blankie and reminded him of all the presents and chocolate the Easter bunny gave him for the dummy. This worked. He was not upset, he did however cling to the new blankie for dear life and took it into his day care room.

He has always found comfort from having something in his mouth - he will put his fingers into his mouth when he gets tired if the dummy was not around. He really seems to understand when I explain things to him - and will say "Oh thats right" like he forgot for just a minute that the Easter bunny came but now he suddenly remembered.

Yesterday we had Easter lunch at Aunt Donna's which was DELICIOUS! I brought over deviled eggs - which I felt I needed to explain the reason they were all blue/green and pink and a green bean casserole. J had three slices of ham and asparagus and a bunch of little cakes and chocolates. The cake room - my own name for the room where all the desserts are always laid out at Donnas is my favorite place - i always take a photo as it is always decorated in the appropriate theme and Easter is especially pretty with the most delcious cakes I've ever tasted.
Donna also had an Easter basket for J which made him all of a sudden not shy anymore and he just was tickled pink to have a whole bunch of treats just for him - he carried the bag around his neck most of the afternoon! He was the only child there so got a lot of attention - which by the end of the day he was loving and even gave his great Uncle Clayton a high five and was MORE than happy to take all the candy from his cousin Carmen. He is slowly getting to know Joy's sisters, of course he knows Lou Lou the best as we often visit, however he is begining to know Donna and Gina too. On the way home in the car he sang a song "Donna Donna Donna with the chocolates, i like Donna" Obviously he has connected that time at Donnas means treat treats treats!!
Photos to come - they are on Joy's camera and i will hopefully get some in the next day or so.

Leah's Prom and Easter eve

some candid photos of Leah - Brad's cousin just before heading out for Prom - she looked even more stunning in person. Congratulations Leah! Hope you had fun!

Like I said.... stunning!
Lynda, Leah and Bruce.

I went out for dinner with a girlfriend who's husband is also at the same Bachelor weekend as Brad - yes a bachelor weekend planned for Easter. Hmmmmm... anyway, Nee Nee watched Jackson, she came down tonight as we are doing Easter with her family tomorrow. Jackson about had a fit when I came home to show me his colored eggs - they are beautiful! i am tired but still have green bean casserole and a whole heap of deviled eggs to make, as well as J's easter basket.