Good Ole Grace,Idaho

After watching a movie that Hailey's second grade teacher posted on his Facebook page yesterday. It made me stop and think about all the great times that we had in good ole Grace. Sure it snowed in May, it was cold most of the time, and you lived in the middle of NOWHERE! But we loved the small town atmosphere and everyone knew everybody. I know,I know if you know me well, you would say I thought you didn't like Grace. That was before I start helping out at the school two days a week, got involded with a craft and book club,got the girls in soccer, baseball, tavaci,swimming lessons, and girl scouts, joined the ladies group at church,and went to story time at the library every week with Jayden.

Though all of that we got to know a lot of great people. I mean where else can you watch pig wrestling on Friday night, stand at the city park and count the potato trucks as they go by during "potato harvest", and go snowmobiling and play in the foam in the park on fourth of July weekend.
Only in Grace,Idaho.

We miss you Grace!

To work or not to work

Jason recently brought up the idea of me getting a part time job, since the girls are in school all day. Sure the extra money would be nice but is it worth the stress of making sure everything is in order and things are neat and tidy?

I mean who would run errands, go grocery shopping, keep the house clean,lunches are made, school uniforms are clean, keep track of notes from school and take the girls to and from school and extra activities.
What if one of the girls wakes up with pink eye? Who is going to take off work that day and take them to the doctor? What we both can't? It's not like we can call grandma and ask a favour and watch the girls for a day.
What happens when Jason goes and works at the "Man Camp" later on this year, he would work a week on and a week off. Who will be left with working and all the other things going on?
Plus we are still waiting on the rest of our things to get here. We are still "camping out". Sleeping on air mattresses and living on the bear minuim. Who will unpack everything,when it finally gets here and make this shell of a house a home?
I also like helping out at school in the classroom and being involded in the PTA.
Sure I know their are a lot of working families out there. They manage just fine and love being a working parent.
Sometimes I don't think people realize how much a "Stay at home mom"does. It is truly the hardest job in the world to keep the house in order and have everyone healthy and happy.

So at this time in my life I am not going back to work. I love having my "free time" during the day to get stuff done and not having someone yell "Mom! She hit me!" But I will consider going back to work in the  future, well maybe, we will see where life takes us by then.

Catching up

The last few days as been filled with lots of fun family memories.

On Saturday we went to Grasshopper Soccer. Hailey is gaining more and more confidence in her soccer skills and is making new friends.

Jayden is also enjoying playing soccer as well. For Jayden's age group they like the parents to join in with the child. I don't know who is liking soccer more Jayden or Jason.  

Also on Saturday we finally got a BBQ grill. We have been missing our grilled food. The meat here just doesn't have any flavor here like real American beef. There isn't a whole lot of flavour in anything here. 

So naturally we cooked a feast of grilled foods on Saturday night. We got some steaks, chicken sticks (kabobs), and got some "American Hot Dogs" for the girls. The "American Hot Dogs" were not very American to me but the girls ate them and they said they wanted us to get more sausages (hot dogs).

On Sunday we got up early and went to church. After church Jason and I  purchased some tickets to go to the church ball on June 1st. We get a 3 course meal and there will be entrainment as well. I am kinda excited. A actual date night. We don't go on dates very often. 

After church we went mini golfing for Hailey's birthday. Since it was raining cats and dogs the night of her birthday we decided to wait for better weather. We had a lot of fun and the mini golf course is also a botanic garden. It was very neat to see all of the plants,trees,and waterfalls. 

We came back home after we went golfing and did some yard work and we spent some time in the swimming pool. The water was freezing. Jason managed to actually get in the pool and swim a bit. But the girls and I just played on the steps and splashed each other. Fun family times.

This morning(Monday) Hailey got a award at school for patience and understanding and learning how a school is ran in a different country. She got a certificate and a pencil. She was smiling from ear to ear. She was so excited to go to school today. We are so proud of her. 

Life in Australia

The Buenemann Family

As you may or may not know, we recently have moved to Perth, Western Australia. We have been here a little over a month now and we are getting settled in our new home and our daily routines.

Jason is busy chasing work and "building relationships" with other companies. Hoping to get more work lined up here in Australia. Jason's work contract is only for a year but our visa's are for,four years. We are hoping the company finds enough work so we stay here the four full years. We are ready to be settled for a while. Three moves in the past four years is enough for us.

The city of Perth 

We got the girls into a Catholic School here, near our home in Wanneroo. Hailey is in Year 3 (3rd grade) and Jayden is in Pre Primary(kindergarten). They are loving their new school and life here in Australia. The girls go to school, 5 days a week and are at school from 8:30am to 2:50pm. We have Hailey in a after school program playing soccer, so she can spend time with her new friends after school and of course  have fun. We also have both of the girls in Grasshopper Soccer. Grasshopper Soccer works on soccer skills and gets your confidence level up. Jayden is the only girl in her group and loves it! Hailey is in an all girls group called "Girl Power". Hailey is enjoying Grasshopper Soccer as well.

Girls seeing the ocean for the first time.

As for me I am busy keeping the house running smoothly and running the girls back and forth to school. I have been exploring all the shopping malls and trying to figure out how everything is ran here.
Everything is different here. Even going to the grocery store. They price meat and veggies by the kilogram. Thank goodness for my handy dandy app on my iPhone that tells me how much per pound everything is, otherwise I would be lost.
 The money here is also different. All the bills are different colors and the smallest bill is a five. Then you have coins for two dollars,one dollar, 50 cents, 20 cents, 10 cents, and 5 cents but no pennies. They round everything up to the nearest cent or dollar,so you don't need pennies.
Going to Mcdonald's (Maccer's) is also different. In America everything is super sized. Here with your combo meal you get a drink that is a size of a small back is the US. They don't put mayo on their chicken sandwiches they put a balsamic vinegar on it. Weird but tasty.

Here are some pictures of some our adventures so far.
The girls have seeing the ocean and played on the beach for the first time. We went to a wildlife park and the girls got to feed kangaroos and pet kola bears. On Mother's Day we went to the Perth Zoo. We got to see all sorts of animals that we would never have seen in the US.

Hailey feeding a kanagroo

Jayden petting a Kola bear

Hailey petting a Kola Bear

Hailey at the Perth Zoo

Jayden at the Perth Zoo

Our monkeys sitting with a monkey at the zoo
 We are loving it here in Australia and we are making great family memories. 

Havin fun at the zoo

Cheers! (Have a good day)